Community feeding, learning sessions reducing malnutrition

Three-time mother, Enifa Donda has for the first time been exposed to good dietary practices for children.

“I just knew about exclusive breastfeeding but little about nutritious foods,” confesses the 26-year-old from Laiti village, Traditional Authority (TA) Machinjiri in Blantyre, southern Malawi.   

Donda discovered her knowledge gap during a caregivers’ orientation session on malnutrition screening held by Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) working together with a Health Surveillance Assistant (HSA) of the area. The malnutrition screening and feeding learning sessions were part of the Community Complementary Feeding and Learning Sessions (CCFLS) locally known as ‘bwalo la pamoto’.

Since 2019, Malawi Government with technical support from UNICEF and financial assistance from the Government of Germany through KFW has been implementing a multi-sectorial nutrition programme; Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Project in Blantyre. FUM is implementing this project in all TAs in Blantyre.  CCFLS is one of the initiatives under this project. 

Every Wednesday morning, mothers meet to teach each other recipes using locally found foodstuffs to prepare nutritious meals for their children.  They also learn food preservation and processing, early signs of malnutrition in a child and have their children screened for malnutrition.

“My other children survived by God’s grace, as I just fed them plain maize flour porridge,” Donda says.

She joined CCFLS in 2023, when her third born daughter was five months old and seldom misses sessions ever since, “I wish this continues and passed on to next generation mothers.”

Cluster leader for Laiti area, Madalitso Kasinja, responsible for monitoring and guiding 25 members acknowledges caregivers’ positive response towards CCFLS.

“Using Mid-upper arm circumference (Muac) tape, children are checked for malnutrition risk,” tells the 27-year-old mother of two.

If it’s on red, she further explains, the child has severe acute malnutrition, they are referred to the health facility for nutrition treatment. If on yellow, the child is at risk of acute malnutrition and is enrolled on a 12-day community close monitoring program, where the mother is mentored on nutritious food preparation, if on green, it means adequate nourishment.

In the first half of 2024, all children screened were healthy. Kasinja proudly attributes this to the introduction of CCFLS, which has aided in building nutrition momentum, “We just saw Muac at facilities, but we didn’t know the purpose of its use.” 

HSA for South Lunzu health centre, Felix Kankhono acknowledges the introduction of CCFLS has contributed to the reduction of malnutrition, revealing that about 40 percent of children in Laiti area were malnourished.

“Natural disasters such as cyclone Freddy and perpetual dry spell somehow affected household food security and caregivers’ psychosocial well-being,” he notes.

Kankhono further attests: “The greatest results of CCFLS is the caregivers’ knowledge to identify early malnutrition signs, nutritious food preparation and management of mild malnutrition at community level.”

He however tells that some children delay to get care because their caregivers are hesitant to bring them for screening, “they fear the shame of presenting a malnourished child and be blamed for negligence.”

FUM Nutrition Field Officer, Florence Kambala says the introduction of CCFLS has improved child malnutrition rate in the area. FUM provides 100 kilograms of soya flour for use during CCFLS sessions.

“This is just a starter pack. When the flour finishes, caregivers contribute towards the cooking sessions, although food shortage has been the main set back. Some caregivers abscond CCFLS sessions because they have nothing to contribute,” she observes.

Donda and Kasinja envision CCFLS continuity to uphold the gains made, as they pledge their support to upcoming young mothers.