Maputo, 15 Apr (AIM) – The Japanese government is investing 175 million meticais (about three million US dollars at the current exchange rate) to support the training of health workers and the improvement of Maternal and Child Nutrition Services in the southern Mozambican province of Gaza, as well as in the northern province of Niassa.
The training intends to improve the dissemination of information on mother and child nutrition, which is seen as an essential condition for improving the quality of health of the population and increasing life expectancy.
According to Japanese expert on Mother and Child Nutrition Services, Amaike Naomi, interviewed by AIM, over 300 health professionals, including activists on health issues, have already been trained in the districts of Chibuto and Bilene, in Gaza, and in Majune and Muembe, in Niassa.
She explained that training is part of the project to strengthen the Mother and Child Nutrition Service, which is based on the use of the new Women’s and Children’s Health Booklet, an initiative that has been introduced since April 2023.
“This training is for health professionals and multipurpose agents who are working in the community so that they can improve the mother and child nutrition service, using the woman and child health booklet. We are training the agents to pass on information to mothers and pregnant women. The booklet contains illustrations with key messages that facilitate both women who can read and those who can’t”, the expert said.
According to Naomi, Japan has over 70 years of experience in using the women’s and children’s health booklet, an instrument considered important for educating women and recording information, a factor that has improved mother and child health and fought against malnutrition in that Asian country, known for its high life expectancy.
“One of its priority actions is to observe women with underweight babies and to analyze exclusive breastfeeding over a six-month period, with a view to ascertaining the parameters of nutrition, seen as an essential factor in the quality of life for women and children”, said another expert, Kadoi Nobuhiro.
Nobuhiro explained that Gaza and Niassa are in a pilot phase as a result of the need to cross-check information from the south and north, bearing in mind that the realities may be different, but the aim is to expand the initiative on a national scale.
“It is premature, at the moment, to give any results or indications of the testing in progress, but when the data is finalized it will be shared jointly with the government, through the Health Ministry, for a later decision to expand it nationwide”, he said.
“Japan is one of the countries in the world with a high life expectancy and the women’s and children’s health booklet plays a key role because it has significantly reduced infant mortality”, he added.
(AIM)
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