…tasks Bauchi lawmakers on funding nutrition as part of constituency projects
Chief of Field Office (CFO), Bauchi Field Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Dr. Nuzhat Rafique, has berated some health workers in Bauchi State for laxity and unprofessional conduct endangering the lives of clients, especially women and children.
Nuzhat Rafique made the expression while addressing lawmakers from the state on adequate budgetary appropriation for nutrition intervention during a two-day advocacy and sensitization meeting held in Jos, Plateau State.
Narrating her experience, she stated, “I am sorry to say, in my experience of 12 countries, what I saw in the health facility in front of me, they had the audacity to cut the date and change it from November to December and showed the number of patients they carried out hemoglobin level test.
“From 1st to 29th November, then 28th November became 28th December, because it was on the 28th December of that year when I visited the health facility during the Maternal Newborn Health PHC week.”
Nuzhat Rafique added, “I asked one of the healthcare providers if they have done the haemoglobin level test because maternal nutrition is very important in determining a child’s nutrition.
“I further asked them if they have distributed Multiple Micronutrients supplements (MMS) during antenatal sessions and they yes they do it in the health facility.”
The UNICEF CFO added, “The healthcare provider now went inside the health facility and took about 15 minutes and she decided what to do along with her colleagues. Later, they brought back the register with 28th November changed to 28th December, that was very smart of them, but luckily, I was more smarter than them.
“I told them that this even worse if they had said that they have not done it, it is okay if they had said that we didn’t have the haemoglobin level record, I would help them and build their capacity, but for them to do this, it goes a long way as a crime, it is wrong in terms of religion, you can testify that somebody is wrong intentionally.
“Everything we do for mother and children is a testimony, this life we are living is a test by God, it is nothing because nobody knows tomorrow, whether we will be here or not, it is only our actions that will stay and go with us.”
Nuzhat Rafique called on the lawmakers to commit themselves to making child nutrition funding part of their constituency projects to address the problem of malnutrition in children in the state.
According to her, CNF is an initiative that gives state governments in the country the ownership of funding nutrition through counterpart funding to match UNICEF contribution in the same sum to the basket fund.
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