The Civil Society -Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria, (CS-SUNN)FCT chapter, has called on all stakeholders in the health sector to take drastic action towards reducing the number of malnourished children in Nigeria.
While stating that 9.6million children in the Federal capital Territory and 16 other states have been recorded to be malnourished .
FCT Coordinator of CS-SUNN, Ngozika Ogbonna made the disclosure during the celebration of FCT food day in Abuja.
According to Ogbonna, there is urgent need for relevant stakeholders to ensure that malnourishment is brought to an end in the country.
“We want all stakeholders to work towards positive change that will touch all the part of the Federal Capital Territory. To assist in improving the life of the people and see to it that it is effective all round.”
She highlighted that the outreach is held to
enlighten mostly women and children.
“It is essential for them as individuals to improve the nutritional level in their respective homes, as well as the administration of some vital commodities.”
In addition, she noted that the outreach is to educate the women and children on how to cook nutritious food for their families.
“We also want to administer some commodities like Albendazole for deworming, Vitamin A to children from 6 to 59 months, and also mosquito net to protect both mother, children, and even the entire family from mosquito bites.”
Ogbona further added that FCT CS- SUNN intend to access some other communities
” We would soon reach out to other communities in the FCT. We identified the need for nutritional education, and we decided to visit the community.”
The FCT CS-SUNN Coordinator, said her organization have trained volunteers that will provide feed back on the impact of the program.
The Deputy Director Nutritionist/Dietician, State Nutrition Officer of FCT Primary Health Care Board, Ms Okoro Clementina represented by Nutrition Officer, Bello Gafar, stated that there is need for sensitization in communities to inform the residents about eating healthy food.
She added that the personnel at the Primary Health Care center noticed that most people do not eat balance diet.
“Most Nigerians like eating food containing Carbohydrates. Our meal should include more of other nutrients like vegetable, protein, vitamins and others. Eating balanced diet food also promote healthy living”.
The District Head Jikwoyi, Nicodemus Mathew, advised the members of the community to eat healthy.
” I want you all not only to learn, but to practice and always embrace this kind of program.
We feel a sense of belonging, as this is happening in our community, it shows that we are being acknowledged and this is a good development”.
He commended the organizers for the great initiative.
One of the participant, Miracle Habila, a first time mother, said the program have made her to be more enlightened about the importance of eating healthy.
“This is a good and welcome development. It has improved my understanding tremendously, that a particular food may contain different nutrients”.
During the program, there are other activities such as Nutrition Education, Nutrition assessment, and Food demonstration.
Several items were also distributed, such as water guard, for the purification of water, pre- natal vitamins for mothers, and deworming tablets.
