By Umaru Maradun
Coalition of Civil society organisations working on Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) in Zamfara state have decried over the increase rate of dying children in the state as a result of malnutrition cases amongst children less than five years.
This was contained in a one-page communiqué issued by the state MNCH coalition over the weekend in Gusau, the Zamfara state capital, at the end of its quarterly meeting.
The communiqué signed by the acting secretary, Muhammad Sabiu, called on the state government to complement the effort of UNICEF and Save the Children in their effort to curtail the menace of malnutrition amongst children of the state through the development partners’ intervention of establishing 38 community management of acute malnutrition centre in seven local councils of the state.
The Coalition appealed to the state governor to release funds for the procurement of drugs for the treatment of complicated cases affecting thousands of malnourished children across the state, as it has been a great challenge in managing the treatment of malnourished children.
The communiqué said: “Worthy of mention during the period was the creation and sustenance of nutrition budget line in 2013 by the present leadership of the state, with the allocation of N20million in 2013, and increment of the amount from N20million in 2013 to N35.6 million in 2014.”
It stressed the need for the state government to review upwards the salary and conditions of service for health workers across the state, as it was identified as a factor compelling many health workers to leave the state service for greener pastures.
The Coalition observed the need for government to constitute a high power assessment committee on the ‘state of health sector in Zamfara state’ as it was done in the educational sector of the state, in view of the significance of the sector to humanity.
It used the medium to register its congratulatory message to Governor Abdul’aziz Yari for his purposeful leadership particularly in the health sector within the three year administration of the present government.