By Umar Akilu Majeri,Dutse
Child malnutrition in northern Nigeria appears on a rapid increase, particularly in Jigawa State. This is according to a recent exercise conducted the Action Against Hunger – a nongovernmental organization [NGO]. The NGO revealed that there are over 86, 000 children suffering from severe malnutrition in Jigawa State alone.
The Jigawa state Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Lawal Abdu Roni while speaking at inauguration of a nineteen member technical committee on food and
nutrition – disclosed that Jigawa state is the only state that has initiated community based management survey on malnutrition aimed at eradicating the menace of famine, particularly children.
Alhaji Lawal Abdu explained that he charged members of the committee to work hard and coordinate with donor support in the area of food nutrition as well as coordinate with the planning and implementation of all food and nutrition programs to achieve the target objective.
He noted that “nutrition is an important sector for sustainable development of people that is much more compound in recent times because of global environmental issues, such as global warming, natural disasters“.
“with the help of development partners such as ACF international, UNICEF, MSF (Doctors without Boarder) to mention but few through Working to Improve Nutrition in Northern Nigeria (WINNN) when activities to tackle issues of severe malnutrition in children in selected communities in the state where over 86, 000 children have been cured in the last 2 years“.
The committee chairman and Director General of Gunduma Health system board Pharmacist Usman Tahir commended the state government for giving them the mandate to serve and assured of their full commitment towards the realization of the set objectives.
Members of the committee include representatives from UNICEF, WHO, SUBEB, PATH 2, Radio Jigawa and Alhaji Aminu Sarkin Hatsi of Budget and Economic Planning will serve as Secretary of the committee.
Part of the committee work includes proposing and reviewing periodically policies and programme – potential impact on food and nutrition issues, providing necessary professional and technical assistance and support to the budget and planning directorate, coordinating and undertaking advocacy on food and nutrition issues in the state among others.
