Tuesday , 19 March 2024
enfrit

Infant health: a new program to fight against undernourishment

The official launch of the pilot phase of the program “Zazatomady” took place on February 21, in the Commune of Ampasina-Maningory, in Fenerive-Est. This new program is created by PSI Madagascar and is financially backed by UNICEF. Through it, the National Nutrition Office (ONN) plans to reinforce some measures already implemented locally that are in line with the effort of curbing undernourishment. Actually, “Zazatomady” is a program whose main objective is to improve the nutritional quality of the food of infants aged between 6 to 23 months.  In short, the program aims at increasing the nutritional value of infants’ food by adding supplements, rich in vitamins and essential minerals, which are in the form of powder.

Highlighting the importance of the program, Jean François, the National Coordinator of ONN, asserted that since food reinforcement is one of the key actions of the National Action Plan in Nutrition, 2012-2015, and whose main target is to slow down growth backwardness and to reduce mortality rate in infant aged below 5, the program “Zazatomady” will greatly facilitate the attainment of that goal. As for the UNICEF’s resident representative, Steven Lauwerier, “the project of food reinforcement in the household will not only improve the general nutrition of the infants, but will also improve the practice of feeding infants with foods other than breast milk.”