…..says document to serve as road map
Gombe State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning Salihu Alkali, has lauded the role of United Nations Children’s Fund in the draft and launch of its Nutrition Policy, adding that the document is expected to serve as a road map that it aligns with Sustainable Development Goals.
He made this disclosure at the launching of Nutrition Policy and Costed Multisectoral Food and Strategic Plan of Action to tackle malnutrition in the state.
PERISCOPE NIGERIA reports that the policy is gears towards reducing the current state’s stunting rate at 52 per cent to about 18 per cent.
The policy is a five-year document from 2023- 2027.
Alkali said, “I will like to thank the commitment of the governor, members of state committee on food and nutrition. We appreciate UNICEF Field Office for collaborating with us on the development of this policy without which this wouldn’t have been achieved.”
Speaking during the dissemination, Dr Tushar Rane, Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Nigeria, Bauchi Field Office said the document would boost economic growth.
Represented by Philomena Irene, Nutrition Specialist UNICEF Bauchi Field Office disclosed that about half of child mortality is attributable to malnutrition stressing that good nutrition plays a leading role in averting deaths of children.
He said, “The Food and Nutrition Policy we are launching today will guide Gombe State to address the hinderance to food and nutrition security from individual, household, community, local government to state levels. It steers the identification, design, and implementation of intervention activities across relevant sectors.
“The Costed Multisectoral Strategic Plan will promote diets, services and practices that support optimal nutrition, growth and development for all children, adolescents, and women. The strategic plan estimates that the interventions across the state would require a public investment of ₦11,169,423,741.16 with an average annual public investment cost estimated of ₦2,035,892,400.00 over the next four years (2023-2027).”
While commending the state’s investment to the policy Rane noted that Gombe contributed N50 million to combat wasting.
“Furthermore, it is noteworthy and commendable that Gombe state contributed 50 million Naira as counterpart contribution for the Child Nutrition Fund to address all forms of Malnutrition particularly wasting, anaemia and stunting.
“The Child Nutrition Fund is a new financing mechanism designed to accelerate the scale-up of sustainable policies, programmes and supplies to end child wasting. The minimum contribution for the CNF is 100 million Naira.
“About half of child mortality is attributable to malnutrition. Thus, good nutrition plays a leading role in averting deaths of children. Ensuring proper nutrition of children requires a life-cycle approach whereby adequate Nutrition commences from conception to newborn until the baby grows into an adolescent and then an adult.
“The first 1000 days of life – between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday – is a unique period of opportunity when the foundations for optimum health and development across the lifespan are established. The right nutrition and care during the 1000-day window influences not only whether the child will survive, but also his or her ability to grow, learn and rise out of poverty. As such, it contributes to society’s long-term health, stability, and prosperity.
“Investing in the early years is one of the smartest investments a state can make to break the cycle of poverty, address inequality, and boost productivity later in life. Today, millions of young children are not reaching their full potential because of inadequate nutrition.
“It is our hope that the new policy will provide an overarching framework, covering the multiple dimensions of food and nutrition improvement, with the special focus on nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions,” he added.
Performing the task of launching the policy document, Deputy Governor of Gombe State Dr Manassah Jatau, said the launch of the policy is a step towards realising government plans of prioritising children.
Jatau added, “Basically, this launching of the Policy and Action Plan is a clear realisation by government that whatever that is to stand the test of time must be on a very solid foundation. Accordingly, nutrition which is defined as the process of eating the right kind of food so you can grow properly and be healthy, is very crucial and important in the life span of human beings. In essence its launching today is really apt, germane, necessary and inevitable, to arrest the present situation where malnutrition and its unpleasant consequences.”
Also speaking, State Coordinator of Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria in Kaduna State, Jessica Bartholomew, decried the current stunted rating of malnourished children at 52 per cent adding that “its expected that if the policy is well implemented will reduce to 18 per cent.”
