By Sani Idris

Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation funded Alive & Thrive fhi360, has harped on the need to create awareness through the media about importance of creating demand for Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) for women during pregnancy.

At a two-day media dialogue on Thursday in Kaduna, Alive & Thrive tasked the media to create the relevant awareness and enabling environment to bolster MMS’s intake.

This is to ensure the speedy switch from Iron Folic Acid (IFA) supplement to MMS in fighting anemia and multiple micronutrient deficiencies among women.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the dialogue was part of Alive and Thrive’s key mandates to strengthen local capacity for enhanced Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) interventions and visibility of maternal health through promoting MMS.

In a presentation, the Senior Behavioral Change Communication Technical Advisor for Alive & Thrive, Dr. Auwalu Kawu, said that the dialogue was aimed at ensuring that media is adequately engaged to work as co-partners in the campaign for promoting MMS.

He added that the dialogue was to provide media practitioners with the tools and knowledge necessary to effectively cover and advocate for MMS, which is a critical intervention for improving maternal and child health across the country.

Kawu said that the Federal Government recently approved MMS to be provided across all government health facilities to complement IFA that used to be available for pregnant women during antenatal care.

He pointed out that IFA addresses critical points of anemia for pregnant women.

He, however, explained that having realised the limitation of IFA in addressing malnutrition among pregnant women, the government decided to include multiple micronutrients.

“One is not replacing the other, but they are complimenting the gap. MMS has 15 nutrients which a pregnant woman needs, very essential, very important to minimise pregnancy complications and to have a healthy childbirth and also a healthy child,” he pointed out.

Kawu further said that MMS was expected to be available in all public health facilities supported by the government, especially at the primary health care level.

The technical advisor said MMS was not yet everywhere, stressing that the media interaction was meant to initiate the process of awareness creation and increase the knowledge of both the pregnant women, their husbands and other family members.

He added that the meeting was also meant to seek the support of the media to draw the attention of the government in terms of policies to make sure that the MMS is made available in all the health facilities.

“It is going to be given free to all pregnant women who attain antenatal care. They are familiar with IFA and they will be counseled on how to take it throughout the period of pregnancy,”he said.

He called on women to always ensure that they attain antenatal care as soon as possible.

Kawu stated that it provides pregnant women with an important avenue to monitor their pregnancy and to take MMS based on the examination of their conditions at the health facility.

Speaking further, he said that IFA supplements were widely used to combat iron deficiency and anemia during pregnancy.

He revealed that MMS provides 15 essential vitamins and minerals that includes vitamins A, C , D, Zinc, Calcium and more, emphasising that it provides broader nutritional support to pregnant women.

Kawu added that MMS improves cognitive development in children and reduces neonatal mortality.

The SBC adviser also said that uptake of MMS remained low due to behavioural and social barriers such as poor awareness, misconceptions and myths.

He further said that media practitioners required orientation on MMS benefits and behavioural change messaging techniques to raise awareness and dispel rumours and myths.

Earlier, the Kaduna State Coordinator of Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), Ms Jessica Bartholomew, thanked Alive & Thrive for bringing the media together to have an open-mind discussion on MMS, especially in the scaling up MIYCN via the MMS.

She urged the media to participate in the dialogue, stating that they were the agents that would create the enabling environment for micronutrient supplementation.

One of the participants, Mr Femi Oyelola of Peoples Daily Newspaper, promised to use the knowledge acquired to influence behavioral change among pregnant women.

He also pledged to influence the government’s commitment towards making MMS available for pregnant women in the state and beyond.

Also, Mrs Fatima Aliyu of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), described the workshop as timely, while promising to mobilise women journalists to promote MMS and other health related issues for a healthy society.

Other participants, who spoke after the workshop, expressed their delight at being part of it,  which they all agreed was highly educative and participatory.

They also said that the knowledge gained during the workshop would enhance their output in their respective media houses.

The dialogue attracted media practitioners from radio, television, print and online platforms, officials of Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board and the Planning and Budget Commission.(NAN)