Saka Ibrahim
27 June 2009
Birnin Kebbi — About 541 children in Augie Local Government Area of Kebbi State are said to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition. The children, who are said to be under five years of age, are being rehabilitated in five Primary Health Centres (PHCs) by the officials of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA) and Augie local government.
THISDAY checks reveal that the centres are Augie North, Shafama, Bayewa, Yola and Birnitudu, while the children were given Plumby nuts and malnutrition drugs during the visit by the Federal Government and UNICEF delegates.
Executive Director of the NPHDA, Professor Mohammed Ali Pate, said they were at the centre so as to address the problem of malnutrition as well as how the state and local government will assist the affected children.
He said the problem of malnutrition was beyond providing sufficient food for the affected children since it was an issue that needed collaborative effort to tackle.
According to him, there is need for the involvement of all tiers of government and even traditional institutions to evolve in the primary health care delivery in order to solve the problem.
"Based on research, there is severe problem of acute malnutrition among children under five years; malnutrition is a hidden epidemic that if not checked can lead to chronic malnutrition. It means the epidemic will affect the ability of the children to learn. So, all stake holders must be involved in order to tackle the problem", he said.
The executive director commended the leadership role of the state government on immunisation and urge government to sustain the tempo.
He disclosed that the Agency has received applications from 3000 Nurses and Midwives was willing to take up advocacy job with the agency to prevent malnutrition.
In her remarks, the UNICEF-Country representative, Mrs Saumi Sakai, reaffirmed UNICEF's commitment towards reducing child mortality and enlighten the public on proper nutrition.She said, "malnutrition reduces ones ability to learn, hence; the need to invest in different aspects of nutrition".
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