Ummah support initiative and HIV/AIDS
In order to meet the nutritional need of the OVCs USI recruit primary health care workers from the identified health facility located in the community to carry out comprehensive nutrition services as follows: 1) baseline nutritional assessments; 2) monthly monitoring of growth and development 3) nutrition, counseling and education to promote weight gain or maintenance, […]
In order to meet the nutritional need of the OVCs USI recruit primary health care workers from the identified health facility located in the community to carry out comprehensive nutrition services as follows: 1) baseline nutritional assessments; 2) monthly monitoring of growth and development 3) nutrition, counseling and education to promote weight gain or maintenance, health and survival of the OVC. A nutritionist may be hired on short-term basis to provide overall guidance on the content of the group counseling meetings with the caregivers.
USI distributes food supplements received from USAID MARKETS to the caregivers to support household nutrition. Ensure all OVC have birth registration, immunization and refer all sick OVC and severely malnourished child to a primary healthcare center/hospital for management
USI have also been at the forefront of improvising what they call Acada Learning Center model to provide education support to OVC who are out of school before they are reintegrated into formal education. UMMAH established Acada Learning Centers in several communities. For each child enrolled, ummah provided uniforms, sandals, text books and workbooks payment for the teacher’s salary, backpacks and other services that meet the needs of the children.
I have personally witnessed the destribution of Income Generating Grants(IGA) to widows and commercial sex workers to discourage them from prostitition.These grants were in the form of grinding machines, tailoring machines, sacks of rice and beans, hundreds of yards of clothes for sale and several other items too numerous to mention. Inspite of the aforementioned intervention by USI, a lot still need to be done. There is need for other Muslim organisations to spring up and confront this HIV/AIDS challenge if we are to succeed in this fight. I think in the not so distant future we may as a community adopt the Christian resolution that intending couples produce medical report on their HIV/AIDs status before the marriage is solemnised. This will go a long way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and help stem the tide against the disease.
It is equally important to call on wealthy Muslim individuals and groups to come to the assistance of USI to help them achieve thier objective to assistthose infected and affected by HIV/AIDs. For how long are we going to rely on donor agencies? What happens when the fund dries up? Which will happen sooner or later? It is time we take our destiny in our hands as other communities are doing.
Abdulsalam writes from Karu, Abuja