A Young Doctor in Kyrgyz Republic Helps Her Peers Change Nutrition Behavior

Elnura Jenishbekova is a family doctor working in a family group practice that serves more than 13,000 people, and the main regional hospital in Batken Oblast in the Kyrgyz Republic. She serves at the heart of the Kyrgyz Republic’s health system, a critical link between clinical care and better nutrition among the families she serves. Since its inception in the Kyrgyz Republic in October 2019, USAID Advancing Nutrition focused on strengthening and supporting local health systems. Through discussions with decision-makers at a national level and grassroots efforts in small health facilities, the project helped health care providers improve and apply nutrition counseling skills in daily practice through in-service training, followed by supportive supervision to improve the nutrition services that these health care workers provide.

In 2020, Dr. Jenishbekova participated in a USAID Advancing Nutrition training on clinical nutrition. As a result of her excellent performance in training, she was one of 15 health workers chosen to mentor other health workers on counseling on anemia prevention and child nutrition. As part of the USAID Advancing Nutrition project’s effort to improve the quality of nutrition services within the health system, training on improving counseling—including infant and young child feeding (IYCF), adolescent and women’s nutrition and anemia—were always followed by two rounds of supportive supervision. During these sessions, mentors observed and assessed their mentees’ progress, and provided feedback.?

"Being a mentor gives me great pleasure. I support health workers in identifying nutrition-related problems and providing proper counseling. During my observations, I noticed that the majority of children under 2 years old have nutrition issues and anemia that can have long-term consequences. We help mothers solve these problems and thus contribute to building a healthy future for our country," Dr.? Jenishbekova said.

In just one year, Elnura participated in two rounds of supportive supervision on nutrition and anemia, in total mentoring 108 health providers in 11 health facilities. At just 28, most were older than Elnura, but that did not impede her from providing quality feedback. Aibek Sadykov, a fellow family doctor from Kyzyl-Bel village in Batken Rayon, says, “Elnura greatly helped us counsel mothers. We used to tell them about nutrition, but we did not give specific recommendations. Now we have learned to first inquire how the mother feeds the child, then determine how and where she needs help. She may be afraid to start giving complementary foods. Elnura monitors and guides each one of us.”

Over the life of the project, USAID Advancing Nutrition conducted 350 training programs for health care workers, reached 2,900 health workers to improve counseling for IYCF, anemia, responsive care and early learning (RCEL), and the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative to ensure mothers and newborns receive timely, appropriate care and establish optimal feeding practice. The heath workers in turn provided 131,000 consultations on IYCF, anemia, and RCEL, impacting over 35,000 children under two and 19,900 pregnant women.?

Health workers have a significant influence on people's behavior, especially in making healthy dietary choices for mothers and children. Enhancing access to high-quality health services and counseling is critical to improving the nutritional status of women and children. Through this work, USAID Advancing Nutrition has helped achieve sustainable improvements in the nutritional status of women and children and created better opportunities for thousands of families.?