Senegal: a next step in treating malnutrition.
16.11.2023
Reading time
2 minutes
Following complete renovation, the village clinic in Dougnane is ready for use again. A Nutrition and Health Education Center was established at the facility, where we will deal with cases of children with malnutrition, their treatment and mothers’ education. This problem affects 17% of Senegalese children under 5 years of age.
The Catholic clinic in Dougnane is a small rural clinic in the west of Senegal. Its manager is Sister Xawera, a Polish Ursuline nun, with whom we previously created the Nutrition and Malnutrition Treatment Center in Thiaroye, on the outskirts of Dakar. Together with the Polish Embassy in Dakar, we decided to thoroughly renovate the clinic, which has just ended with the official opening of the facility. Mr. Bartłomiej Zdaniuk, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Senegal, Anna Haris, project coordinator in Senegal, as well as local authorities and representatives of health associations, were present at the event.
The changes we have introduced will allow us to fully use the available infrastructure. The previously exposed atrium inside the building has been given a roof, thanks to which the heat will not be so severe, and the room can now serve as a waiting room. We have opened a Nutrition and Health Education Center in the largest room of the clinic, where the youngest patients suspected of malnutrition will be admitted. We will use a previously developed cycle: the child is weighed and measured, then, if necessary, he or she will receive special nutritional formulas. The mother will have an educational session in which she will learn how to properly feed her child. Cooking demonstrations will also start soon, during which mothers will learn how to prepare healthy meals using local ingredients.
We see that the needs are great and the level of malnutrition among children is increasing. Education is needed on how to properly take care of children and how to prepare meals healthy and nutritious. Our experience shows that only an integral way of dealing with the problem of malnutrition brings very good results, says Anna Haris, project coordinator.
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