Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai
By Philip Yatai
The Kaduna State Government says it is considering the establishment of a Nutrition Agency to coordinate all nutrition activities in the state.
Mr Jibril Isah, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, State Primary Health Care Board disclosed this on Friday in Kaduna at a two-day meeting organised by Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN).
The meeting was organised to strengthen advocacy skills and capacity of health and nutrition CSOs, media and government officials, to identify areas of priorities in nutrition interventions.
Isah said that Gov. Nasir El-Rufai had already presented a memo to the Executive Council to that effect, and that the memo was currently before the Planning and Budget Commission and Ministry of Health for advice.
He said that the move was to ensure effective coordination of nutrition interventions by the ministries, department and agencies, development partners and relevant stakeholders.
According to him, the state has recruited 76 nutritionists to provide technical nutrition services at healthcare centres in the state.
Isah said that the 76 nutritionists were part of the over 1,300 health workers recently recruited under the ongoing exercise for over 3.000 health workers in the state.
The recruitment is being done in phases as part of efforts to improve the quality of health and nutrition services delivery in health centres.
The nutritionists have been deployed to health facilities across the state, he said.
Responding, CS-SUNN Coordinator in the state, Mr Silas Ideva, commended the state government for efforts to improve the nutrition status of women and children in the state.
Ideva commended the current administration in tackling the scourge of malnutrition, considering the number of nutrition strategies, plans and policies approved by the state government.
Considering that nutrition is a multisectoral issue that requires a multisectoral approach, several ministries, departments, and agencies are implementing nutrition activities coordinated by different government agencies.
For us in CS-SUNN, the plan to establish a nutrition agency is strategic as it will serve as a central coordinating point that will coordinate all nutrition activities in the state.
This will prevent duplication of services and also provide the needed coordination for effective utilisation of available resources for result driven cost-effective nutrition intervention, he said.
The coordinator also commended the state government for the ongoing establishment of nutrition corners in health facilities to create the needed awareness and knowledge on how to prepare nutritious meals for children.
Source: NAN News