Chima Azubuike, Gombe state.
Gombe state government has taken delivery of 3, 210 cartoons of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to revive children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (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 RUTF will not be enough. Last year alone we treated 13, 700 children in the state, this RUTF 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 acting executive secretary, Gombe state Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHCDA), Haruna 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, assured that the delivery of RUTF will not end advocacy by the coalition because more needs to be done to save lives of children in the state.
Meanwhile, in the last 3 months Gombe State has recorded the deaths 12 children resulting from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
This was revealed by Mr. Usman Baraya, the former nutrition officer of the state, Baraya, was represented by Mohammed Bawa, he stated this recently when a select team of journalists were taken round a Community Management of Acute Malnutrition site at Gidan Magani he said “1, 732 children were admitted for SAM cases in the first quarter of 2019, we recorded about 12 death to Severe Acute Malnutrition”.
He also disclosed that 12, 880 out of a total of 15, 326 SAM children admitted between 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, have been cured and discharged.
While admitting that the success was recorded through the Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) programme that was supported by the United Nations International Emergency Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Mr Baraya, said that the programme played a vital role in supporting the state to record improvement that led to the cure of SAM children across the state.