Micronutrient Initiative

Published purpose

This project aims to reduce the number of children who are sick and dying by improving the access of 2.2 million Ethiopian children to highly effective care to prevent and treat malnutrition. Despite recent progress, malnutrition remains a serious problem in Ethiopia, and many children do not regularly have enough nutritious food to keep them healthy. Malnutrition contributes to about half of all deaths of children under five years old. Activities include: (1) providing vitamin A supplements, which helps to ensure normal growth and development and to reduce infections and illness, and treatment for worms, which increases the ability to absorb essential nutrients for children under five years old; (2) training health workers at the community level to detect and treat severe acute malnutrition, and (3) treating severely malnourished children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in their own communities with special food. This project is part of Canada's commitment for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.