Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Acute malnutrition reportedly killed 124 children in Kaduna State between January and September, while 21, 265 others are on admission, Nutrition Officer, Primary Health Care Development Board (KADSPHCDB), Mrs Ramatu Musa, said yesterday.
She said 15,329 malnourished children were cured, 2, 128 defaulted, while 264 others remained unchanged after treatment (unrecovered) at Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) centres within the same period.
Ramatu spoke through Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of KADSPHCDB, Jibril Isah at a two-day meeting to strengthen Advocacy Skills and capacity of Health and Nutrition CSOs, Media and government officials organised by Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition (CS-SUNN).
To manage the situation, the nutrition expert said CMAM centres were increased from 10 in two LGAs in 2017 to 77 in 15 LGAs while stabilisation centres were established in 17 General Hospitals for children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
Government’s intervention, she said, had significantly increased access to quality treatment of malnutrition though a lot still needed to be done.
“We equally have 796 trained community volunteers, 45 in each LGA except Igabi with 63 and Kajuru 238 mobilising community members for optimal IYCF practices. A total of 95,906 mothers, women, grandmothers, and men were reached with Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) messages by 904 support groups in the state.
“Out of the figure, 27,469 pregnant women were reached, 24,767 mothers of children less than six months of age, and 23,993 mothers of children six to 23 months.
“Others as 19,448 women of childbearing age, 12,762 grandmothers and 7,467 men, adding that 13,473 children under five years were referred to health facilities for treatment,” she said..
State Coordinator, CS-SUNN, Silas Spencer Ideva, lamented that malnutrition among reproductive-age women and children continued to pose a major challenge to health and human development of the citizens in the state.
CS-SUNN is working on Partnership for Improving Nigeria Nutrition Systems (PINNS) project aimed at strengthening the Nigeria nutrition systems in Kano, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Niger and Lagos states.