Gombe state government has bought 3, 210 cartoons of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to revive children with severe acute malnourished (SAM) in the state.
Delivering the RUTF to the state government, the representative of Bauchi field office of the UNICEF, Philomena Irene, said the state had released N50 million for the purchase of the food needed to save lives of scores of children affected by SAM in the state.
Commending the state government for responding to the need of SAM children in the state, Irene said more needed to be done as the RUTF purchased “can only last for three to four months.”
“In 2017, the state government provided the sum of N17 million for procurement of the RUTF and they also went ahead to provide N50 million in 2019, so we can see that the government is making a serious effort with more than fifty percent increase. However, we are still appealing to the government that we need making efforts to procure more because this RUFT will not be enough. Last year alone we treated 13, 700 children in the state, this RUFT procured will treat barely 3, 500 children, you see we still have a gap before the end of the year,” she said.
Receiving the stock, on behalf of the state government, the executive secretary, Gombe state Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHCDA), Haruna Ali Dadin Kowa, said the agency in collaboration with the ministry of budget and planning “will commence works to provide more funds procurement of the RUTF.”
“We will do all that is expected of us so that our children will be adequately taken care of,” he said.
On his part, the state chairman MNCH coalition, Malam Alhassan Yahya, gave the assurance that the RUTF “will not end advocacy by the coalition because more needs to be done to save lives of children in the state.”
