Hold the Child | Our Action. Our Future - Hold the Child | Our Action. Our Future

COMMUNITY & CHILD HEALTH

Community and Health of the Child

More than half of early child deaths are due to conditions that could be prevented or treated with access to simple, affordable interventions (WHO). The leading causes of death in under-5 children are preterm birth complications, pneumonia, birth asphyxia, diarrhoea and malaria. About 45% of all child deaths are linked to malnutrition. Community and Child health model is an attempt to contribute towards Universal health coverage and UN sustainable development goals: # 3 -Good health, # 6 -Clean Water and Sanitation; and #10 -Reduced inequalities. Our work is geared towards strengthening local awareness of the cases of child mortality, home-based care, local referral systems (community-health facility); and building local ownership of the services through:

1. Reproductive Health:

A child’s risk of dying is highest in the neonatal period, the first 28 days of life. Safe childbirth and effective neonatal care are essential to prevent these deaths. 45% of child deaths under the age of 5 take place during the neonatal period. (According to WHO). These trends are pronounced among the low social strata. Driving factors include; limited reproductive facilities and challenged referral systems, improper reproductive health choices, limiting traditional practices/barriers. Our action is centered on comprehensive sex education in schools; promotion of youth friendly reproductive health services; provision of basic obstetric services.
2. Childhood illnesses:

Child survival and growth is often challenged with a ranged of childhood illnesses with detrimental impacts characteristic the low social strata. Common illnesses are associated with symptoms i.e. Diarrhoeas, Fevers, Coughs and Skin infections. Our approach includes Capacity building of local health workers, Promotion of home-based care, early identification and local referrals
3. Immunization:

To the reduce the persistent sub-optimal coverage of major antigens in most of the remote areas we work, our interventions include: Capacity building of local health workers; Strengthening of last-mile vaccine safety; Immunisation demand creation; Support for routine vaccination, outreach options and defaulter tracing; and Support for immunization health information systems
4. Management of Acute Malnutrition:

Amidst high levels of poverty, insecurity, ignorance; Wasting robes the children survival rates, and Stunting robes their full development potentials. Our action against the highly prevalent acute malnutrition include: Treatment of both complicated (clinical symptoms) and non complicated severe acute malnutrition; Supplementation for moderate cases of malnutrition; Prevention of malnutrition through food access safety nets, promotion of optimal infant feeding practices; and Nutrition surveillance.
5. Sanitation, Hygiene promotion:

Recent studies indicate that the biggest killers of young children are respiratory infections and diarrheal disease, and both are preventable via hand washing. Suboptimal hygiene knowledge and behavior (hand washing, hand washing with soap and oral hygiene) were found among African children (NCBI). Our Interventions include; Sanitation and hygiene in schools through school clubs and fixing hand washing installations, latrines; Sanitation and hygiene in health facilities through health education, Community sanitation through CLTS approaches

Safe communities | Accessible health services | Enlightened and Involved Parents | Health Children