Improved knowledge on infant nutrition a turning point for Asli
Above: Asli holds her child at the the health centre. Photo: Asha Mohamed/Save the Children Ethiopia
Asli is a 34-year-old mother living in the Somali region of Ethiopia. She is a mother of four children under seven: three boys and a girl. Asli has a small shop where she sells different commodities such as soaps, sugar, tea leaves, and other small items. The modest shop serves as the main source of income for her entire family. Asli’s husband is unemployed aside from some labouring tasks he occasionally finds that help support the family.
Asli’s youngest son, Hassan, is 14 months old and feeding him has sometimes been a challenge. The family’s precarious financial situation makes it difficult to source nutritious food and Asli previously lacked knowledge of how to ensure her children grew up healthy and strong. Two of Asli’s boys, Mohamed and Amin, were admitted to their local nutrition services center twice in 2022 due to malnutrition.
In November last year, Asli managed to visit her local health facility, which is in town and supported by the Australian Humanitarian Partnership response in Ethiopia. Asli was four months pregnant at the time and brought one of her sick children to the health facility. There, she met with Aisha Mohamed, who is Save the Children’s Infant and Young Child Feeding counselor.
With her child receiving treatment for diarrhea at the health centre, Asli was invited to the infant and young child feeding corner, where Aisha gave her valuable information on the importance of exclusively breastfeeding children as a preventive measure for multiple childhood diseases.
“Previously, I used to feed my children regular foods and limited breast milk, believing that more breastfeeding would make me thinner and affect my body image,” Asli said. “I also used to give my babies water with sugar right after birth, but now I know better.”
Asli was invited to attend the health centre’s eight-week course in Infant and Young Child Feeding. Asli attended the centre once a week for 45 minutes, sometimes closing her shop briefly because she felt the learning was so important. The key messages she received from the sessions included the significance of optimal exclusive breastfeeding, the importance of providing diversified food to prevent children's malnutrition, and information on good hygiene and sanitation practices.
After successfully completing the eight-week course, Asli has become a volunteer with the project and will be raising awareness about the crucial importance of exclusive breastfeeding. She looks forward to providing encouragement, support, and guidance to other mothers so that they can take care of their babies’ wellbeing and engage in good feeding practices.
“Thanks to the professionals at the center, I now have a better understanding of the subject,” Asli says. “I will apply these lessons in my daily life and ensure that I and other mothers in my community are aware of the importance of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant’s life, and complementary feeding up to two years.”
Save the Children is implementing this project, which is supported by the Australian Humanitarian Partnership, for a 12-month period, responding to the immediate needs of drought-affected households in two woredas of Dawa Zone, Moyale and Qadaduma.
The project focuses on Food Security and Livelihoods. The Maternal Infant and Young Children Feeding in Emergencies component aims to promote safe and adequate breastfeeding and counseling, by establishing breastfeeding corners at health facilities. The program has also established 29 mother-to-mother support groups, each consisting of 20 members at each kebele of both intervention woredas to introduce mothers to key topics on child and infant nutrition.