MAKUENI RALLIES PARTNERS TO BOOST MATERNAL AND CHILD NUTRITION.

County Health Management Team has joined hands with agriculture department’s representatives in Wote for a two- day high-level co-creation forum aimed at charting a work plan for Helen Keller International (HKI)-supported nutrition programs.

The county is benefiting from a grant-funded consortium bringing together three global public health nonprofits, Helen Keller International, Vitamin Angels, and IDE with the shared mission of improving nutrition among underserved pregnant women, infants, and young children in Makueni.

According to the Helen Keller International team, the initiative seeks to transform lives by strengthening maternal and child health through proven nutrition interventions while reinforcing food and health systems.

The approach deliberately places women and children at the center of the county’s development agenda.

The consortium will focus on both nutrition-specific interventions such as vitamin A supplementation, deworming, breastfeeding promotion, infant and young child feeding, and screening and treatment of acute malnutrition as well as nutrition-sensitive strategies, which include boosting agricultural production, enhancing supply chains, supporting small market enterprises, and improving hygiene.

Through this partnership, Makueni hopes to create an enabling environment for scaling up multiple micronutrient supplements, increasing the number of mothers and children accessing iron and folate supplements, expanding exclusive breastfeeding coverage, and widening access to vitamin A supplementation and deworming.

The initiative also aims to ensure that households within the critical first 1,000 days of life have both physical and economic access to nutritious diets.

Speaking during the forum, Dr. Stephen Mwatha, Ag Director of Preventive and Promotive Health Services, acknowledged the county’s nutrition challenges but expressed optimism that the partnership would go a long way in addressing them.