Nutrition Rehabilitation program
It is well known, the association between inadequate nutritional status and risk of poorer outcomes for surgical interventions, including infections, complications and length of stay in hospital.
Therefore, the aim of the Nutritional Rehabilitation Program (NRP) is to restore a healthy body weight and improve eating behaviors of malnourished patients (mainly babies and children with cleft lip/palate diseases) in order to maximize the response to surgical intervention and to maintain this healthy body weight over time; to integrate medical/surgical treatment in patients with chronic infections like osteomyelitis, TB bones, rickets, severe burns, cancers.
Personnel involved in the NRP are limited to a full time nutritionist, part time consultant pediatrician and a cook (mother to a disable and previously malnourished child). Caretakers of admitted malnourished patients are “trained on the job” to cook some of the recipes needed by their children.
Severely malnourished and moderate malnourished patients with surgical/medical complications are admitted in the Ward, while the other moderate malnourished patients are followed at the Hostel. For all patients enrolled on the NRP, a varied and personalized diet is given out several times in a day, following UNICEF and Uganda Nutrition Rehabilitation guidelines. Combined with the diets, the patients and caretakers are also offered Nutrition Education, one by one and/or in groups, to correct misinformation about food and help caretakers to acquire a basic understanding of the nutritional requirements of a growing or a sick body.
From January 2014, the in-charge Gardener of CoRSU started collaborating with the Nutrition Team, thus starting the “Garden project”. Also in this project caretakers of malnourished patients are involved. Local available crops have been planted, fruits as papaya, guavas, passion fruits, mangoes and oranges and vegetables such as cabbages, local greens, eggplants and legumes.
Nutrition Education trainings also involve the personnel of the CBR Department.
Future plans are to improve the outcome of malnourished patients by enlarging the Nutrition Team, involving clinical officers and nurses working at CoRSU. This will include nutrition education trainings for hospital staff in order to obtain proper identification and management of nutritional problems.
In 2015, more constant collaborations with CBR Department will be established, with eventual outreaches in their catchment areas to identify malnourished disabled children who require nutritional support.
Activities (cooking different recipes – personalized, nutrition education for each mother and in groups, garden, training personnel or other departments of CoRSU concerning nutrition issues for better identification of children in need of nutritional support