Stakeholders call for immediate action against malnutrition in Gombe

Critical stakeholders in Gombe State have raised the alarm that the state is currently sitting on a time bomb following the increasing spate of malnutrition among children under-5 years of age.

According to the latest NDHS report (2018), the stunting rate of children under 5 is at 44.6% and 26.9% underweight. A development that has made the state to be rated as the second state with the highest burden of malnutrition in Nigeria.

The alarm was raised by stakeholders in the health sector during a meeting in Gombe on Thursday where there was a call on all to join hands with the government in addressing the ugly trend.

Though there have been concerted efforts by the government to address the trend, the stakeholders feel government alone cannot fight the battle against malnutrition, as such, all hands must be on deck to fight it holistically.

Rising from a one day stakeholders meeting in Gombe which brought together government, CSOs, CBOs, FBOs, academia, traditional and religious leaders, traditional birth attendants, media, health workers, and the private partners working in the area of nutrition, the stakeholders resolved that through deliberate efforts, improving the nutrition status in the state with emphasis on pregnant women, children, and other vulnerable groups is very possible. The meeting was organized by the Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN).

The Gombe State Coordinator, Comfort Mukollo, said CS-SUNN has so far reached no fewer than 500 women in several communities with different awareness and sensitization campaigns on Infant Young Child Feeding (IYCF) among many other issues aimed at addressing malnutrition.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting on leveraging partnership for sustainable nutrition programming in Gombe State, the stakeholders commended Gombe State government for the release of N50 million as counterpart for the provision of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) in the state but observed that the state has been out of stock of RUTF.

The communiqué which was signed by Chima Azubuke, Punch Newspaper; Hussaini Obeth Dangombe, Gombe State Ministry of Information and Rebecca Mua’zu of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), also observed that the influx of IDPs from crisis-ridden states into Gombe State has overstretched its resources, hence, the call for all stakeholders especially the government to tackle insecurity.

During the meeting, the Gombe State Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation was encouraged to produce more complimentary food and if possible make available the processing tools to some households.

The stakeholders appealed to the government to release the balance of N50 million meant for the production of RUTF to tackle the dearth. They also called for an increase in media engagement for proper/accurate dissemination of nutrition information.

The communique also reads, “malnutrition is not due to poverty, but the lack of proper dietary intake, hence, there should be an increase in sensitization of households on the use of local food to produce substitutes.

“Stakeholders observed the need for increased access to antenatal and postnatal care and the improvement of clinics across the state which will, in turn, reduce malnutrition.

“Government should revive the school feeding program across the 11 LGA’s of the state, to enable students to comprehend and reduce the rate of malnutrition.”

Participants at the meeting then appealed to the government at all levels to place a high priority on food production to reduce the rate of malnutrition in the state;

They encouraged mothers to embrace exclusive breastfeeding for the first 0-6 months of life despite the dissenting voices from the public.

The need for all stakeholders to unite towards reducing the impact of malnutrition in the state was stressed just as it called for the sustainability of projects by government and other stakeholders, long after the expiration of a project in the state.

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