In its determination and effort to fight cases of severe acute malnutrition among children in Gombe State, Bauchi Field Office of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with the State Government commenced a five-year nutrition action project in the state tagged as ‘PARSNIP’ Progressing Action on Resilient Systems for Nutrition through Innovation and Partnership.
The overall objective of PARSNIP (Progressing Action on Resilient Systems for Nutrition through Innovation and Partnership), is to contribute to ending the preventable deaths of children by strengthening the resilience of services to treat and prevent child wasting in the face of climate and work.
The project was announced by the Gombe State Nutrition Officer, Mrs Ronas Amusa, who said that urgent action must be taken on children with symptoms of malnutrition in the state before it gets to the stunting stage where many children don’t get revived.
She further said that, because of the burden of malnutrition in the state, Government must not be left alone, all hands must be on deck to salvage the situation.
“The last time the state had Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for the treatment of malnourished children in the state in October 2020 after it lasted for only three months. The State Government had released N25million which procured 1,159 cartons,” she stated.
UNICEF Chief of Field Office on PARSNIP programme in Gombe, Dr Tushar Rane, said during a one-day inception meeting with stakeholders on the programme, that the cases of malnutrition in the region are great with one in every two children stunted.
He said Kwami is the pioneer Local Government to commence the programme and that UNICEF is coming with technical support while community participation will be key in the execution of the project which is expected to be sustained for a longer period.
Some of the key components of the project according to him are, the mentoring of childbearing women on exclusive breastfeeding.
Traditional rulers, as well as other critical stakeholders such as the Conditional Cash Transfer Office, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, the media among others, will be involved, he said.
He said a child experience massive development in his first two years which can be disrupted by malnutrition stressing that 1000 days of the life of a child is so important to be ignored for whatever reason.
Giving an overview of the project, Philomena Irene, UNICEF’s Nutrition Specialist said, the programme is first, preventive, even as the use of RUTF will also come in.
According to her, the project will ensure that food produced in the locality is used in addressing malnutrition.
She said, there will also be capacity building for health workers to measure and give appropriate counselling to mothers while it will also work with the State Ministry of Health, the State Primary Health Care Development Agency as well as the State office of the Conditional Cash Transfer.
She stated also that there will be one to one marching fund where N50m counterpart funding is expected from the State Government for the procurement of the RUTF which goes along with the PARSNIP programme.
“Ward focal persons will work in the communities and all PHC facilities in all the wards,” Mrs Irene said.
Chairman of Kwami Local Government Area, Alhaji Ibrahim Buba, who was present at the meeting, expressed excitement over the execution of the project in his area saying, ” we shall give UNICEF the support and maximum cooperation towards the success of the project.”
He added that the local administration will ensure massive sensitization of the people of the area, especially in rural communities. “The prevention of malnutrition on our children will receive our support,” he emphasized.
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