Tema-Ghana, Aug. 08, – African nations have committed to new actions that scale up maternal nutrition interventions across national health systems.
The African nations acknowledged that pregnancy is a critical period of increased nutrition requirements, yet many women struggle to meet these needs through their diets, resulting in vitamin and mineral deficiencies that can have serious health and survival consequences for both mother and baby.
The African Nations made the assertion at the African Union Commission Department of Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Social Development (HHS) through the Health Systems, Diseases, and Nutrition (HSDN) Division, which convened a 3-day meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Speaking on behalf of the African Union Commission, Ms. Inas Mubarak, Head of Health Systems, Diseases, and Nutrition, stated, “We want to seize this opportunity to establish meaningful collaborations and set the pace for concrete action to accelerate the women’s nutrition agenda by implementing an MMS strategy and nutrition financing.”
“With renewed momentum among mothers, session participants set a new path forward for collective action for healthier pregnancies across the continent. The official meeting report by HMHB is forthcoming”.
Highlighting the fundamental role of maternal nutrition in the health and prosperity of communities, Dr. Lia Tadesse, Minister of Health, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, urged stakeholders to work together to support all mothers by increasing access to proven solutions, such as prenatal supplements during pregnancy.
He stated that “Ethiopia is implementing a number of national programmes that improve maternal nutrition, including micronutrient deficiency.”
It was observed that in Africa, an estimated 80 percent of women of reproductive age suffer from one or more vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and 13 percent of newborns are born with low birth weight.
‘MMS,’ commonly known as prenatal vitamins, provide a cost-effective solution to increase the intake of essential vitamins and minerals during pregnancy and improve maternal and newborn health.
The African nations also identified new approaches to address bottlenecks hindering the scale-up of MMS, including local and regional supply constraints.
The leaders shared knowledge and experiences to elevate best practices to strengthen national health systems to support maternal health by integrating MMS in antenatal care services.
