Counsenuth: About Us

About Us

COUNSENUTH comprises of a group of members concerned and committed to promoting counselling services, healthy life style and optimal nutrition for the public.

Health and nutritional well-being plays a very important role in the quality of life. Preventive health and nutrition care services are inadequate in the Tanzanian society. With the advent of urbanization and affluence in Tanzania , the society is faced with health and nutrition problems that affect both developed and developing nations. These include coronary heart diseases, diabetes, HIV/AIDS over-nutrition and under-nutrition; all of which need to be carefully addressed.

Counselling is a novel service to the Tanzanian society due to the fact that Tanzanian people have survived the upheavals of life through support systems which were inherent and embedded in the large families. The absence of that support system has left a glaring vacuum which needs to be filled through use of a more scientific and modern approach.

It was the need for more preventive services, effective counselling and nutritional care that prompted the establishment of COUNSENUTH. It is our hope that by offering these services we shall be making a humble contribution towards improving the quality of life in Tanzaniia.

Mission:

Improved care and quality of life for vulnerable groups. The thrust of COUNSENUTH is to contribute towards improving the quality of life through strengthening care for vulnerable groups, and promoting preventive health, nutritional care and counselling at community level.

Goals and Objectives:

The main goal is to improve the quality of life through provision of counselling services, preventive health, reproductive health and nutrition education with the following specific objectives:

To facilitate/implement health and nutrition programmes for infants and children. Including support, protection and promotion of breastfeeding.
To promote and facilitate appropriate infant and young child feeding in the context of HIV/AIDS;
To provide/strengthen nutritional care and preventive health services at community level;
To provide skills on Community/home based dietary management of chronic diseases, including HIV/AIDS;
To facilitate and strengthen nutritional care and support for People living with HIV/AIDS;
To provide counselling services to individuals, groups and families on issues of Nutrition, Adolescence, Youth and Reproductive Health;
To develop and conduct short tailor made courses and seminars for different population groups on preventive health and nutritional care;
To develop and disseminate education materials on nutrition, maternal and child health and other related issues;
To undertake participatory research to enhance counselling, health and nutritional care;
To provide consultancy services in nutrition, counselling, maternal and child health, reproductive health and other relevant issues; and
To promote sustainable programmes that aim at improving the quality of life, at community level.

Beneficiaries:

Children, pregnant and lactating women, adolescents, youth, women, men and families.

Major Service Areas:

Community nutrition, infant feeding and health eating;
Nutritional care for people living with HIV/AIDS;
Infant feeding and HIV
Dietary management of obesity, and diet related diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and Coronary Heart diseases (CHD);
Counselling and life skills development;
Adolescent health, positive parenting and reproductive health;
Gender and mid-life concerns; and
Research and Consultancy

Major Strategies:

Building capacity of service providers on nutritional care and support and counselling of vulnerable groups at different levels;
Develop, produce and distribute IEC materials on nutrition and health, targeting community, service providers and institutions;
Use of mass media to educate the public on nutrition and health issues;
Conducting participatory research;
Working with and involving the community;
Promote collaboration and networking in nutrition, counselling and health issues within the country and abroad for cross-fertilization of ideas;
Provide consultancy services in nutrition, Infant an young child feeding, counselling, reproductive health, and other related issues.

Registration:

COUNSENUTH is a non-profit, Non Governmental Organisation registered with the Tanzania Ministry of Home Affairs under Societies Ordinance, Certificate No. 9495, in 1998.