UN trains Somali health workers on containing cholera, malnutrition

MOGADISHU, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday it had concluded a five-day training of 24 Somali health workers on management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) with medical complications.

Ghulam Popal, WHO Representative in Somalia, said participants were also trained on the management of cholera in severely malnourished children in accordance with the UN agency's guidelines and technical recommendations.

"More than 1.4 million children in Somalia are still under the threat of acute malnutrition," Popal said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.

The cascade training which marked the participation of 24 health workers from 12 nutritional stabilization centers in Somalia was aimed at improving the quality of services in nutrition stabilization centers and reducing the mortality rate resulting from the mismanagement of SAM cases.

According to the WHO, the training which was jointly organized with the ministry of health focused on the management of severe acute malnutrition with complications including preparation of the therapeutic milk using local available ingredients.

"WHO will continue supporting the Federal Ministry of Health with the trainings and technical advice required to build the national health capacities and enable them to manage the various malnutrition cases with medical complications," he added.

According to the WHO, the trend of acute malnutrition from 2014 to 2017 is reflecting a clear deterioration in the nutrition status of the population.

The current drought crisis has increased the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) percentage from 12 percent in 2014 to 17.4 percent in 2017.

As of October, some 388,000 children were reported with acute malnutrition while 87,000 were classified with severe acute malnutrition, the WHO said.

According to the nutrition cluster, these figures are likely to increase by more than three folds in 2018. Enditem