Malnutrition in Kaduna frightening – El-Rufai

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state has described the increasing population of malnourished persons in the state as “frightening.” The governor stated this in Kaduna at the opening of a twoday Orientation Workshop on “Eff ective Coordination of nutrition programme” organised for members of Kaduna state Committee on Food and Nutrition.
El-Rufai, who was represented by the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Hafsat Baba, said the number of malnourished children remained very high despite ongoing efforts to address it.
He said despite the huge interventions, 11.7 per cent of children under- five years in the state were still suffering from acute malnutrition and 47 per cent suff ering from stunted growth.
According to him, huge resources are being sunk by the state and development partners without much impact, largely because of uncoordinated intervention.
He explained that duplication of intervention had negative effect on results, but that “co-ordinated intervention would lead to direct impact and create the desired result.
“I strongly believe that with the adherence to coordinated interventions will have a high chance of addressing the scourge,” he said.
Also speaking, Hajiya Aisha Mohammed of “Save the Children,” Kaduna state Office, said coordination among development partners was necessary to avoid duplication of efforts.
According to her, “without coordination, we will be doing the same thing in same communities which would amount to wastage of resources.” “We will equally highlight the role of the committee in implementing the state nutrition policy and develop action plan.” The state Nutrition Officer, Hajiya Hauwa Usman, said the state’s Policy on Food and Nutrition was designed to reduce malnutrition through coordinated interventions.
“It also hoped to reduce hunger and malnutrition by 50 per cent, increase exclusive breastfeeding rates in the first six months by 50 per cent, and increase uptake of appropriate complementary feeding by 40 per cent by 2025,” she said.
The Desk Office of Breast Milk Substitute at the National Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs.
Rahila Maishanu, expressed concern over the increasing rate of marketing of the substances in the state health centres.
She said while the state and its development partners were working to arrest malnutrition through encouragement of exclusive breastfeeding, manufacturers of BMS are sabotaging the efforts.
She said the substance made from animal milk “are of low nutritional value compared with breast milk marketed at various health centres in the state.” According to her, the development is encouraging mothers to feed their children with the junk, rather than breast milk which contained the entire nutrient needed by a child.
Describing the situation as “nutrition terrorism,” the NAFDAC official urged the state government to set up a task force to curb the trend.
Team Leader of Alive and Th rive, an NGO, Mr.
Christopher Musa, said a lot of health officers were not aware of the code that “prevents them from supporting the advertisement of the products.” He said a sensitisation programme for health officers by the NGO in 2017 revealed that only three out of the 35 participants were aware of the code.
Responding, the wife of the governor and the chairperson, Kaduna state Emergency Nutrition Action Plan, Hajiya Aisha ElRufai, promised to advocate for the setting up of a task force.
She also urged the state Primary Health Care Development Agency to take appropriate action.

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