By Muhammad Auwal
The Centre for Justice and Empowerment (CJE) has called for the release of allocated funds to curb malnutrition and save children in the state from stunting as well as low growth and Intelligent Quotient (IQ).
Founder of the Bauchi based NGO, Mr Kingsley Yalling who made the appeal on Monday in an interview with newsmen in Bauchi, said that
children affected with malnutrition were more likely to be backward than their peers. Mr Yalling said that although development partners support patients in the state, the state government still needs to do more.
According to him, the adverse effects of malnutrition are not limited to the family alone; they affect the larger society in terms of upbringing, education and economic. development
“All hands must be on deck to sensitise and create awareness to general public on the use of nutritional farm products within the locality. Bauchi state has only 21 Community-based Management Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) centres in the nine local government areas across the state.
“Recently, we visited some of the centres and saw that office accommodation was not favourable for patients; the Ready to Use Therapy Food (RUTF) was either short or out of stock in some of the
centres we visited.
“Parents need to be reminded that nutritional food should be provided for children according to their ages, for healthy growth,” he said.
Yalling also called on the Bauchi state government to provide food supplements to patients.
