Group Advocates Revival of Food, Nutrition Committee to Curb Child Malnutrition, Stunted Growth
ASABA/Nigeria: In order to curb the incidences of child malnutrition and stunted growth in Delta State, the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the Delta State Ministry of Economic Planning have advocated for the need to revive the food and nutrition committee in the State.
This was made known when the Child Nutrition Advocacy Group paid an advocacy visit to the office of the Chairman, Oshimili South Local Government Area.
The Child Nutrition Advocacy Group, which comprises of nutritionist, personnel from the Ministry of Economic Planning, the National Orientation Agency and Civil Society Organisations stated that it sought to resuscitate what is called the food and nutrition committee at the local government level, which they said will ensure the trickledown effect of the policy to the grassroots.
Assistant Director, Ministry of Economic Planning, Mrs Millicent Amitaye stated that Delta State is currently ranked poorly in the child nutrition chart and that one of every five children in Delta State were stunted according to available statistics.
She reiterated the need to revive the food and nutrition committee which she said had died in some of the local government areas and to ensure that the ugly trends and report of child malnutrition was curbed to zero level in the state.
The group said that the malnourished children were poorly positioned to compete academically and health-wise, and as such, the future of these children was not guaranteed.
It said it target was children between the ages of 0 – 5 years, including women within the reproductive age, through the End Hunger policy of both the federal and state government, as it would be complimented at the local government level in the state.
The Chairman, Oshimili South Local Government Area, Hon. Comrade Uche Azuka Osadebe adjudge child malnutrition as the inability of the child to access good food, this he said was traceable to the deplorable state of the economy.
According to Comrade Osadebe, “In as much as I applaud the policy, we should also focus more on tackling the present Economic situation we find ourselves.” Even as he submitted that food was about the cheapest commodity in most developed countries, stating that good food been unaffordable makes the child stunted.
He assured the group of his readiness to domesticate the initiative in the local government via health talks in most health centres within the local government.
