Health workers trained to manage severe malnutrition

Over 100 Ethiopian health workers have undergone training in the treatment and management of severely malnourished children, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported on Tuesday. The health workers will in turn be deployed to various hospitals to train others, UNICEF added.

The trained health workers included 41 nurses, 12 doctors and 54 medical officers. They were trained at the Addis Ababa, Gondar and Jimma universities, UNICEF said in a statement.

"We hope to expand the training to other universities so that eventually [this type of] treatment will be part of all medical school curricula," Sylvie Chamois, Nutrition Officer at UNICEF was quoted as saying.

"Malnutrition in the country has been exacerbated by the poor rains, which led to crop failure and livestock deaths," said UNICEF Representative Bjorn Ljungqvist. "Malnutrition also increased the population’s susceptibility to disease, including malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, which again have their repercussions on the nutritional status and the development of children."

Apart from expanding the training, UNICEF plans to assist the Ethiopian health ministry to integrate the treatment of severe malnutrition into the country's routine health care treatment.