By Asmau Ahmad
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Federal Government is committed to reversing life-threatening diseases affecting children in Nigeria.
The minister stated this in Sokoto state, in a message to the opening of a two-day Media Dialogue on Malnutrition, organised by UNICEF, with the theme ‘Good Nutrition; invest more #StopChildmalnutritionNigeria.
Represented by Head of Child Rights Information Bureau, Mrs. Rose Madu, the minister said the government would ensure that all children, irrespective of social and economic status, grow up healthy to meet their full potentials in life.
“The federal government is also extremely committed to scaling up all nutrition activities and the prevention of child malnutrition across the nation.”
He disclosed that the government had improved funding of nutrition activities in the country and urged states and local governments to follow suit.
Lai Mohammed stressed the need for mothers to commence exclusive breastfeeding of their new-born within the first five minutes of birth, to last for the first six months of the child’s life.
“After six months of exclusive breastfeeding, the mothers can then introduce complementary feeding of nourishing diets.This can be sustained up to two years before the child is weaned to ensure healthy growth, with full immunity,” he advised.
In his remarks, the state Commissioner of Health, Dr. Balarabe Kakale, noted that malnutrition remained the major cause of immune deficiency in children, which left them vulnerable to killer diseases like polio, measles, pneumonia and whooping cough.
His Information counterpart, Alhaji Abdulkadir Jeli, urged parents to provide appropriate diet to their children to protect them from malnutrition.
He said the state government is sensitizing the people in this direction and urged the media to help in propagating the message of exclusive breastfeeding and healthy diet.
On her part, Nutrition Specialist, Sokoto Field Office, Mr. Paul Mudzongo, disclosed that infant and young children feeding practice indicators in Nigeria, were not very encouraging.
“There is a wide variation between the north and south in the areas of health and nutrition, and poor nutritional status in the first two years can lead to stunting. This is irreversible and is associated with impaired cognitive ability and reduced school and work performance in later life.”
He said that the Media Dialogue was jointly organized by UNICEF and Federal Ministry of Information, to build the capacity of participants drawn from across Nigeria.
Mr. Mudzongo said that the target was to empower journalists to report on malnutrition and related health challenges in children, so as to elicit prompt response from policy makers, parents and other stakeholders.
