By Philip Yatai

Mrs Ramatu Haruna, the Kaduna State Nutrition Officer says the state government has treated about 66,980 out of the 90,228 Severe Acutely Malnourished (SAM) children admitted between 2017 and 2020.

Haruna made this known in Kaduna on Tuesday, at a one-day strategic dialogue with local government officials and relevant stakeholders on resource mobilisation, organised by the Planning and Budget Commission (PBC).

The official said that the children were treated in various Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) sites in the state.

She said that 11,983 were treated out of the 17,979 admitted in 2017, while 17,124 were treated out of the 21,996 admitted in 2018, and 20,861 out of the 26,192 admitted in 2019 were also treated.

She added that 17,012 were treated out of the 24,061 malnourished children admitted in 2020.

She also said that 8,692 out of the 90,228 admitted within the period under review defaulted on treatment, others were referred to stabilisation centres, while others did not recover.

The state nutrition officer also disclosed that the state lost a total of 1,358 children to malnutrition within the period under review, with 672 recorded in 2017, 221 in 2018, 323 in 2019, and 142 in 2020.

She said that the 8.99 per cent decrease in the cure rate of malnourished children from 79.6 per cent in 2019, to 70.7 per cent in 2020, was due to shortage of Ready-To-Use Therapeutic Food.

Haruna equally pointed out that the decrease in death rates from 672 in 2017, to 323 in 2019 and a further drop to 142 in 2020, was due to increased nutrition services and sensitisation campaigns in communities.

The official also said that a total of 2.7 million caregivers had access to nutrition services through Community Infant and Young Child Feeding (C-IYCF) interventions between 2018 and 2020.

“A total of 868,155 parents and caregivers accessed C-IYCF services in 2020, indicating a 20 per cent increase from the 687,879 reached in 2019.

“The government has also established 17 Stabilisation Centres for the management of SAM and formed 2,380 community volunteers: 1,540 for CMAM and 841 for C-IYCF.

“Similarly, 70 Ward Development Committees’ Chairmen were trained on C-IYCF, 383 health care workers trained on CMAM and 468 healthcare workers trained on C-IYCF,’’ she said.

The state nutrition officer said that CMAM sites were established in four additional LGAs, thereby increasing LGAs providing CMAM services from 11 in 2019 to 15 at the end of 2020.

She identified the 15 LGAs as Zaria. Makarfi, Igabi, Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Lere, Soba, Giwa, Chikun, Kachia, Kauru, Ikara, Jema’a, Kudan and Kagarko.

According to her, CMAM interventions have also been increased in 20 health facilities in 2020, thereby increasing the health facilities providing CMAM interventions to 77 health centres from the 57 facilities in 2019.

“We have equally conducted training for additional 180 health care workers in 2020 on how to manage malnourished children, thereby, increasing the number trained to 463, from the 283 trained in 2019.

“We equally trained 400 additional CMAM community volunteers in 2020, which increased the number trained to 1,540 from the 1,140 trained in 2019.’’

Mrs Jessica Bartholomew, the State Coordinator, Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), commended the state government for the result being recorded in the fight against malnutrition.

She reiterated CS-SUNN’s continued support, particularly in advocating timely release and cash backing of allocated funds for nutrition interventions, as well as tracking the implementation of such interventions.

Earlier, Mrs Pricilla Dariya, Deputy Director, Development Aid Coordination (DAC), said that the main objective of the meeting was to secure commitment of LGA officials to prioritise nutrition investment as part of the state’s agenda on human capital development.

“It was also organised to increase stakeholder’s knowledge on the burden of malnutrition in the state and orient the local government officials on resource mobilisation when planning for nutrition activities.’’