The Federal Government says plans are underway to scale up nutrition for children and adolescent towards improving the well being of Nigerians.
The Director Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), Dr Binyerem Ukaire, said this in Abuja on Tuesday at a stakeholders meeting ahead of National Response for Growth summit in Tokyo December 2021.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the Government of Japan will host the next Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4G) in December
The summit is an unprecedented opportunity to set the world on a pathway towards achieving the SDG targets – in particular, to end malnutrition in all its forms by 2030 and strengthen the link between diet, food systems and health.
Its timing is key, with five years to achieve the 2025 World Health Assembly targets, and 10 years to reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
At N4G, the government of Japan aims to work with partners to galvanise commitments from governments, civil society, private sector, donor agencies and the UN to end malnutrition in all its forms.
Ukaire said that the previous commitments by the Nigerian government was not fully implemented due to lack of corporation by other stakeholders, stressing that the meeting would pave way for the government to achieve its mandate.
In his remark, the representative of Nigeria Governor’s Forum, Dr Ahmad Abdulwahab, disclosed that state governors have mapped out modalitie to tackle stunt nutrition in their various states.
Also speaking , the Executive Director of Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition, Dr Beatrice Eluaka, appealed to the government at all level to a set standards and make commitments that were achievable to meet the needs of citizenry and boost the image of the country.
Meanwhile, other stakeholders at the forum pledged to ensure that nutrition and security issues were at the front burner of their activities.
NAN, recalls that in August 2019, the government of Japan released its N4G 2020 Vision and Roadmap.
As part of the Summit, the Government of Japan is calling for commitments to end malnutrition in all its forms under five thematic areas.
They include making nutrition integral to Universal Health Coverage for sustainable development.
“Food: Building food systems that promote safe, healthy diets and nutrition, ensure livelihoods of producers, and are climate-smart.
“Resilience: Addressing malnutrition effectively in fragile and conflict affected contexts.
“Promoting data-driven accountability.
“Securing new investment and driving innovation in nutrition financing.” (NAN)