The Kaduna State Government has approved a “coordination framework for nutrition’’ to check malnutrition in the state,
the Commissioner for Health, Dr Amina Baloni, said.
Baloni made this known when the State Committee of Food and Nutrition (SCFN), supported by Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) visited
her on Thursday.
She explained that the framework was to institutionalise and strengthen the function of SCFN as the central coordinating point of nutrition activities in the state.
The commissioner also said that the council approved the establishment of a Nutrition Unit in the Department of Public Health to support nutrition specific activities in the ministry.
She said “although most nutrition specific activities are being implemented at primary healthcare centres, we need somebody that will look at the secondary facilities and coordinate the whole nutrition efforts of the ministry.
“We are currently assessing our secondary facilities to see where they are in terms of where they are supposed to be and develop a plan to see how we can improve and factor in a nutrition component.
“Our interventions are mostly dealing with the problem of malnutrition after they occurred.
“The specific nutrition interventions are only one-third of all interventions, meaning the health sector’s contribution to addressing malnutrition is less than all the contribution of other sectors, making the multi-sectoral approach key,” she said.
She thanked the committee and other partners for the visit, saying it would strengthen the multi-sectoral response to malnutrition in the state.
Baloni said more attention should be given to Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) to prevent malnutrition.
According to her, treatment is too expensive as the state government does not have the required resources.
“We need to focus on IYCF to prevent our children from becoming malnourished and stunted, as stunted children are going to become adults tomorrow with limitation in intelligence and limitation in productivity.”
Malam Salisu Lawal, the Director, Development Aid Coordination, Planning and Budget Commission, called on the ministry to increase budgetary allocation for nutrition specific interventions.
Lawal pointed out that the ministry was the leading sector in nutrition specific interventions, stressing the need to increase funding for adequate treatment of malnourished children.
Malam Umar Bambale, the Programme Manager, Kaduna State Emergency Nutrition Action Plan, said that recent visits to some secondary facilities showed the absence of nutrition corners.
Bambale urged the ministry to scale up its treatment services and interventions to prevent more children from dying of malnutrition.
Similarly, Ms Jessica Bartholomew, the CS-SUNN Coordinator in the state, urged the ministry to fast tract approval for fund releases and designate trained nutritionists as the Desk Officer in the ministry.
The Chairman of CS-SUNN, Mr Ifedilichukwu Ekene-Innocent, said that the group was working toward getting the support of the private sector in addressing malnutrition in the country.
He added that CS-SUNN and other partners would workwith the programme officers in nutrition related sectors to ensure timely submission of memos requesting for release of funds for nutrition activities. (NAN)
