Malnutrition Clinic

In 2017, we launched a child nutrition project embedded in the network of the St. Francis Referral Hospital and the Chronic Diseases Clinic of Ifakara with the support of a grant from AfricaViva. The project has established screening at the hospital level and provides inpatient and outpatient care for malnourished children, including education acitivities for care-givers. The project has enabled the training of hospital nurses in the standardised assessment of malnutrition and management of children according to national guidelines. Through links with national programmes and UNICEF, the hospital now has therapeutic foods for the care of malnourished children. Dr. G. Mollel has become a member of the National Guideline Committee in Tanzania.

On the basis of the malnutrition clinic, we were able to obtain a grant from ESTHER Switzerland to implement a programme to decentralise malnutrition services in the district. Training of health workers in remote areas ("train the trainer") has further improved malnutrition screening and management. A referral strategy for severely affected children was established. Mass screening and targeted screening were used to identify and treat affected children. In addition, caregivers and village health workers were trained in the identification and management of malnutrition. We linked healthcare centres to national supplies of therapeutic foods and provided training on locally made therapeutic foods. Project activities ended in 2021, however trainings and regular interaction with the district health centres continue. The project employed a nutritionist at the hospital for the first time, who now has a permanent contract with the hospital and supports all nutrition-related activities at the hospital and in the community.