The Kaduna State Government has concluded plans to develop a Nutrition Management Information System for effective planning, decision making and allocation of resources for nutrition intervention.
Mr Muhammad Awwal-Waziri, the Programme Manager, Kaduna State Emergency Nutrition Action Plan (KADENAP), made this known in Kaduna during a Catch-up Meeting of food and nutrition stakeholders in the state, via Zoom.
Awwal-Waziri who said that the state was going through the challenge of accessing accurate and timely nutrition data, and had yet to harmonise a system of harvesting data from different sources.
He said that developing the nutrition management information system would enable the state to have a central data system that would include all the nutrition information needed by stakeholders in the state.
Dr Zainab Kwaru, the Programme Manager, Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria in the state, also stressed the need for data as critical step toward nutrition interventions and programme management.
According to Kwaru, the state needs consistent and complete data to plan and allocate resources to make the desired impact where necessary.
She said “we need to have adequate information regarding progress on Infant and Young Child Feeding and community management of acute malnutrition interventions in the state.
“It is very important for us to know the kind of progress we are making, so we can allocate resources appropriate based on areas with highest burden and areas that need priority intervention.”
Mrs Chinwe Ezeife, the Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF Kaduna, equally described nutrition data as critical to the success of all interventions in the state.
Ezeife noted that although UNICEF and other development partners have been supporting several meetings to update existing data, a central harmonised nutrition data was crucial for maximum impact.
Similarly, Mrs Sarah Kwasu, the State Team Lead, Alive and Thrive (Fhi 360), said that having a centralised and accessible nutrition data would significantly boost expected result in nutrition interventions.
On his part, Mr Silas Ideva, the Coordinator, Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria, said that data quality, transmission and management was critical to winning the war against malnutrition in the state.
Mr Isah Ibrahim, the Nutrition Advocacy Advisor of Save the Children International (SCI), described the step toward addressing nutrition data gap in the state as “commendable” and pledged SCI’s support to the processes. (NAN)
