Maternal, Child & Adolescent health and Nutrition service directorate - Home

The Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health and Nutrition Service Directorate of the Central Ethiopia Regional Health Bureau is dedicated to enhancing the health and well-being of mothers, newborns, children, adolescents, and nutritionally vulnerable populations. As a key entity within the regional health system, the directorate plays a critical role in reducing maternal and child mortality, combating malnutrition, and ensuring equitable access to high-quality, evidence-based healthcare services. Through a comprehensive approach, the directorate focuses on strengthening maternal and newborn health services, improving child health outcomes, advancing adolescent and youth healthcare, enhancing nutrition and food security, and reinforcing health system strengthening and policy implementation.

The Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health and Nutrition Service Directorate is aims to enhance healthcare accessibility, reduce health disparities, and improve the overall health status of women, children, and adolescents in the Central Ethiopia Region. By prioritizing preventive, curative, and health promotion strategies, the directorate contributes to building a strong, resilient, and equitable healthcare system that benefits all.

Objectives of the Maternal, Child & Adolescent health and Nutrition service directorate director.

Strenthening Maternal and Newbord Health Serice

Ensuring safe pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care is a priority for the directorate, as maternal and newborn health is a crucial determinant of overall public health. To achieve this, the directorate:

Expands antenatal care (ANC), skilled birth attendance, and postnatal care (PNC) services to prevent complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
Strengthens Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) and Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) services to manage high-risk pregnancies and birth-related complications.
Promotes the adoption of Essential Newborn Care (ENC) interventions, such as neonatal resuscitation, thermal protection, and infection prevention, to reduce neonatal mortality.
Implements Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) for preterm and low-birth-weight infants to improve survival rates.
Enhances family planning services to help women make informed decisions about birth spacing, reducing the risks of maternal and infant mortality.

Enhancing Child Health Services

The directorate focuses on preventing and managing childhood illnesses, improving immunization coverage, and addressing malnutrition, thereby contributing to the reduction of under-five mortality. Its key interventions include:

Scaling up the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) approach to effectively diagnose and treat pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, malnutrition, and other common childhood diseases.
Strengthening the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) to ensure all children receive vaccines against preventable diseases such as measles, polio, and tuberculosis.
Expanding community-based health interventions, enabling early detection and treatment of childhood illnesses at the household and community levels.
Promoting exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and ensuring appropriate complementary feeding practices to improve child growth and development.
Implementing Vitamin A supplementation, deworming, and zinc supplementation programs to enhance immunity and prevent micronutrient deficiencies.

Advancing Adolescent and Youth Health Service

Recognizing the critical role of adolescents and youth in shaping the future of society, the directorate implements youth-focused health programs aimed at addressing their unique health challenges. These include:

Expanding youth-friendly health services (YFHS) to provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education and services tailored to adolescents.
Strengthening school-based health programs to promote hygiene, nutrition, and mental health support.
Raising awareness about adolescent pregnancy, early marriage, and gender-based violence (GBV) while providing intervention programs to mitigate their effects.
Implementing peer education programs to equip young people with accurate health information and life skills necessary for informed decision-making.

Improving Nutrition and Food Security

Malnutrition remains a significant public health concern, particularly for pregnant women, lactating mothers, and young children. The directorate implements a multisectoral approach to nutrition by:

Strengthening Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) programs to identify and treat malnourished children and pregnant/lactating women.
Promoting maternal nutrition programs, including iron and folic acid supplementation, to improve pregnancy outcomes and fetal development.
Supporting food fortification and dietary diversification initiatives to enhance micronutrient intake and combat malnutrition.
Conducting nutrition surveillance and monitoring to track trends and ensure timely interventions for vulnerable populations.

Expandng Health System Strengthening and Policy Implementation

The sustainability and effectiveness of maternal, child, and adolescent health programs depend on robust health systems and strong policy implementation mechanisms. The directorate works towards this by:

Building the capacity of healthcare workers through continuous training, mentorship, and supportive supervision.
Enhancing health information systems to ensure reliable data collection, analysis, and utilization for evidence-based decision-making.
Improving the supply chain and logistics management of essential medicines, vaccines, and nutrition commodities to ensure availability at all levels.
Advocating for policy reforms and resource allocation to strengthen maternal, child, adolescent, and nutrition services across the region.
Fostering partnerships with key stakeholders, including government agencies, development partners, and non-governmental organizations, to amplify impact and improve service delivery.