Nutrition

Vitamin Angel also known as Vitamin A is a project that GCCYF embarked on in the year 2019 funded by Vitamin Angel US. It addresses malnutrition through nurturing healthy mothers, healthy families and healthy communities towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3 target 8 which states achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), including financial risk protection , access to quality essential  health care services, and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all and SDGs goal 2 target 2 which state ending all forms of malnutrition, including achieving the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons.

Malnutrition is a direct or underlying cause of 45% of all deaths of children under 5 years. Nigeria has the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 32% of children under 5 years. An estimated 2 million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition, but only two out of every 10 children affected is currently reached with treatment. 7% of women of childbearing age also suffer from acute malnutrition.

Vitamin A is an essential, fat soluble nutrient that we obtain from a range of foods and supplements which stores in our bodies. It is required for maintaining eye health and vision, growth, immune function and survival. Everybody needs vitamin A to protect and promote our health. Our bodies cannot make vitamin A, as a result, all the vitamin A that we need has to come from what we eat. If we do not eat enough foods containing vitamin A to meet our body’s needs, we would suffer from vitamin A deficiency which is known as VAD.

VAD has many adverse health effects. It is a major contributor to child mortality. It is critically important that we continue to make intensive efforts to prevent and control VAD.

It is in view of the above that GCCYF embarked on this project of distributing Vitamin A to children from 6-59 months and pregnant women which are our targeted audience and distribution program.

We use the community base outreach approach which is based on massive social mobilization where the supplements are distributed in Primary health centres  and communities.

Before the administering of the supplement, we do a pre-service counseling for caregivers, we make them understand the benefits, safety and side effects of Vitamin A. children are being screened to ascertain their eligibility to receive vitamin A.

We have a record and distribution card for every child and after every administration, we inform the caregiver on the next appropriate time to administer Vitamin A. this is our follow-up strategy. The dosage or time range for vitamin A administration is 4-6 months.

During our distribution, we administer vitamin A alongside de-worming drug to children. The de-worming drug is administered to children from ages 12-59 months.

The supplements for pregnant women are to be taken once everyday, that is 1 tablet everyday. We encourage pregnant women to get adequate nutrition which is best achieved by eating a healthy balanced diet. We also advice the women on the importance of feeding their infants using breast milk exclusively for 6 months.