On Saturday, 11/01/2013, the Field Medical Foundation has launched an Exhibition for the counseling of feeding infants and young children , which was the first of its kind in Yemen. It was held in Abyan governorate , Ahwar district , as a part of the nutrition project activities , which is implemented with the support of UNICEF.
The exhibition was held at a Al-Zahra school in Ahwar district with the participation of 500 female and males. A number of notables and local organizations leaders has attended, including Director of the Office of Health in Abyan governorate and Director of the Ahwar district, Director of the Office of Education in the district , members of the local council in the district, head of the National Commission for Women, president of the valley Association and the FMF staff in Aden and Abyan .
The goal of the Exhibition was to raise awareness among the society, especially women and mothers about breastfeeding and the importance of exclusive breastfeeding. It included training women about supplementary feeding and how to prepare various types of food mixtures (practically). As a part of the awareness in different health sectors; posters and brochures were distributed, photos were viewed and video clips were displayed via a monitor of a data show.
The Exhibition was started by Holy Quran, then some local leaders in the district spoke about the importance of such awareness campaigns in correcting the misleading ideas among the population about breast feeding, thanking the efforts of the Field Medical Foundation and its coordinator and the role they play in providing health services and awareness, noting that the FMF had an early action in Abyan governorate and Ahwar district.
This was then followed by a short lecture presented by the project manager in the organization defining malnutrition and pointing to the importance of breastfeeding, complementary feeding, balanced food and personal hygiene in preventing malnutrition.
The participation was from various age groups including paintings drawn by children, poems and short flashes on personal hygiene, immunization and nutrition.
Then in the classrooms the was a lot of theoretical and practical activities, including: – How to prepare various mixtures of food, health education about: the care of pregnant women, comparing between breastfeeding and artificial feeding, importance of supplementary feeding, the importance of immunization, and finally personal hygiene.
