Kaduna State Government has established no fewer than 300 nutrition corners in health facilities across the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state as part of strategies to fight malnutrition.
Mr Umar Bambale, Project Manager, Kaduna State Emergency Nutrition Action Plan (KADENAP), made this known in Kaduna on Wednesday.
Bambale explained that the nutrition corners were being used for food demonstration to teach women and caregivers how to prepare nutritious meals using available food items.
He said that the feat was achieved following the monthly release of N1 million by each local government area through the Ministry for Local Government Affairs for implementation of nutrition programmes in the LGAs.
“Our target is to ensure that all our health facilities have a food demonstration corner to educate mothers on ways to prepare nutritious meals for children under five years using available food.
“We had less than 100 nutrition corners in health facilities before the monthly release of the N1 million by the LGAs which started in July 2020.
“But with the consistent release of the funds we have been able to establish additional nutrition corners and procure the needed equipment, consumables and drugs in more than 300 health centres.
He commended the LGAs for the monthly release of the funds, adding that a utilisation template was designed by KADENAP to track and ensure judicious use of the funds.
The project manager said that part of the money was being used for Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM), Community Infant and Young Child Feeding (CIYCF) and Food and Nutrition programming and monitoring.
He said that the Local Government Food and Nutrition Committees meet every month to review activities, progress, and challenges in the implementation of nutrition interventions and find ways to address them.
He added that the wives of the LGA Chairmen also supervised nutrition activities in their respective local government areas and encouraged women to visit health centres to access nutrition services.
Bambale disclosed that the demand for nutrition services had increased over the years due to the massive awareness and sensitisation campaigns to nutrition by community volunteers.
Mrs Ramatu Haruna, the State Nutrition Officer, also said that the state government had trained 1,565 Community Volunteers and established 935 Support Groups in LGAs implementing CIYCF and CMAM.
Haruna explained that the community volunteers and the support groups were massively sensitising and mobilising mothers and caregivers to malnutrition and referring malnourished children to health facilities for treatment.
(NAN)