Aminata Shamit Koroma
MSc, BSc
Chief Nutritionist - MoHS
Ms. Aminata Shamit Koroma provides strategic leadership, technical guidance, and policy direction to the MoHS, and related partners on food and nutrition issues. Before then, she had served as Deputy Chief Nutritionist and Senior Nutritionist in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. She had performed nutrition functions with other reputable organizations and consultancy services in Africa, USA and UK to address food and nutrition challenges. An accomplished academic, she holds an advanced degree with several other professional certificates i.e. Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Training for Managers, Health Care in Developing Countries, Emergency Management, Operational Research and Breastfeeding Practice and Policy. She is an organized and strong team builder with a management style that is participatory.
Ms. Koroma continues to show commitment to reducing hunger and malnutrition with strong sense of responsibility. Together with her team, she has made tremendous strides in expanding the directorate with continued career development that enhances their capacities to promote the vision and mission of the Directorate.
Directorate of Food and Nutrition
The Directorate
The Directorate is mandated to advocate, at national and district levels, on nutrition issues and their relationship to development. It is also responsible for advocating and supporting adoption of appropriate feeding practices for households and to strengthening preventive measures against nutrition related diseases. DFN monitors food and nutrition situation in the country and provides curative services to individuals who present a condition requiring diet therapy.
DFN Operational Units
The Directorate has five major operational units:
- Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition
- Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM)
- Micronutrient
- Clinical Services
- Surveillance and Research
Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition: The Unit focuses on the delivery of evidence-based nutrition interventions during the “first 1000 days,” the period from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday. The first 2 years of a child’s life are particularly important, as optimal nutrition during this period lowers morbidity and mortality, reduces the risk of chronic disease, and fosters better development overall.
The aim is to create awareness, improve knowledge of mothers and caregivers on appropriate infant and young child feeding, and care practices both at facility and community levels. Emphasis is given to the community structure through the Mother Support Groups.
Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM): The IMAM programme aims to prevent and treat malnutrition by early/timely identification and referral, public health interventions, nutrition education. This is done through Community Mobilization, Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme (TSFP), Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP) and In-Patient Facility (IPF)
Micronutrient: This aims at providing pharmaceutically prepared vitamins & minerals and through food fortification for prevention and/or treatment of specific micronutrient deficiencies to reduce the prevalence of hidden hunger and other malnutrition, especially in women of reproductive age and under-fives.
Clinical Services: This is the aspect of nutrition that deals with the nutritional management of patients and supervises the nutritional activities in the hospitals (In and outpatients), as well as to provide patients in hospitals with optimum dietary services to complement their clinical management
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Surveillance and Research: This unit is responsible for monitoring and evaluating programme implementation and advises on progress as against targets. It also recommends actions that may lead to improvements in both the programming and the nutritional status of the populations. The unit leads on long-term planning in health/nutrition and development, providing input for programme management and evaluation and supports operational research, national surveys, and evaluation in relation to nutrition.