Bukola Afeni
The Federal Government has sensitized women in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the importance of food and nutrition for child’s survival.
The Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning in collaboration with other Nutrition stakeholders held the sensitization programme in Abuja.
The representative of the Nutrition Department, Ministry of Health, Mrs Yvonne Yinfaowei, emphasized the importance of breastfeeding in the first few months of a child’s life.
“The essence of the program is to raise awareness on the importance of nutrition among women and children. We want to ensure that every household have access to a balanced diet”, she said.
Yinfaowei said the current economic challenges have brought to the fore the need to ensure children are given the right diet.
‘’We are creating awareness for the mothers on how to identify when their children growth is retarded, and the need to take them for treatment. If the child is malnourished, we will educate the mother on the kind of diet for the baby.
“Due to COVID-19 and food shortage, the number of malnourished children has increased, which is devastating to us as health workers.
“That is why we are working hard, creating awareness, and educating the mothers on what to do and how to identify when their children is being nourished “, She said
The Senior Programme Officer, Nutrition International, Nigeria, Amina Atta, said Nigeria is still far from achieving its sustainable development goal of food security.
She explained that the organisation was working with six states in the Northwest. “The states include ; Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa, Bauchi, and Enugu to improve maternal and child health”.
According to Atta, Kano and Sokoto have the highest incidence of diarrhoea, at 20% and 37%, respectively, and she attributes it to a lack of access to quality food.
“Kano and Sokoto states are truly committed to food diversity. In this states, when mothers fail to provide the right quality of food, children may develop diarrhoea, a major contributing factor to malnutrition. This could lead to severe acute malnutrition (SAM), requiring the child’s admission to a SAM centre for treatment, as they might be malnourished within a week.”
Atta further advocated the use of zinc supplements to improve diarrhoea in children under the age of five.
We want women to be empowered so as to make decisions that would be beneficial to their households”, she said.
The FCT Nutrition Coordinator, Mrs Clementina Okoro, tasked Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to establish nutrition departments for the good of society.
Okoro said in FCT only three MDAs have a nutrition department, while Nasarawa has 10 and therefore urged other states to establish one.
‘’We have at least not less than three MDAs that have nutrition department. Nasarawa states, already have nutrition departments that are in about 10 different sectors.” She added.
