Fifteen hundred pregnant women throughout Guyana will benefit from a Gy$5 million nutrition programme of the Health Ministry.
Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy
Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy told scores of Amerindians from villages such as Akawini, Kabakaburi, Baracara, St Monica and Karawab in both Upper and Lower Pomeroon, during a meeting over the weekend, that the ministry has developed a programme which seeks to provide pregnant women, once registered, with three vouchers valued altogether at Gy$18,000.
Dr Ramsammy said the vouchers will be given to women at the various health centres so that they can care for their child as well as themselves nutritionally. He noted the women will be given two vouchers during their pregnancy and one voucher after.
He noted that a baby can only develop if he or she is being nurtured with adequate nutrients during pregnancy.
As such, the programme has been implemented so that pregnant women can be educated as well as care for themselves.
“The vouchers will be given to you by your community health worker or nurses at the health centres. We at the ministry want you to use the money to buy nutritious things that will also benefit your baby,” the minister explained.
He said apart from the vouchers, special micro-nutrient supplements such as zinc and folic acid are given to parents. The minister told the gathering that presently nurses at the various centres throughout the coast as well as in the Pomeroon River are busy registering women so that they can benefit from the initiative.
