The initiative, which targets saving lives, preventing illness and ensuring healthy growth of mothers and children, has an expanded scope to include maternal and adolescent nutrition and using agriculture and social protection programmes as delivery mechanisms for Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition by engaging three CBOs in Kano to spread the ideas across selected local communities.
The partner CBOs are Grassroots Health and Empowerment Foundation , Support for Women and Teenage Children and IDev-Pro-African Institute . Speaking during a media visit organised by Alive and Thrive to the partnering CBOs on the MIYCN project in Kano on Wednesday, the organisations commended the initiative for the programme, noting that it was playing a significant role in improving nutritional status of the communities.
The Executive Director of GHEF, Malam Audu Tela, said that through the programme they were accelerating the scale of the MIYCN project among communities and also enlightening women on 1,000 days of baby care. He said,"What we are doing is all about interpersonal communication, community mobilisation and mass communication to scale up nutrition in Kano. The project is fully funded by Alive and Thrive, an NGO that is championing the campaign on nutrition. We are also counselling them on exclusive breastfeeding, early initiation after birth.