Media in Enugu calls for urgent budgetary intervention on nutrition

 


A call for allocated budget release and utilization for nutrition programming at Federal level, and in Enugu State to be increased from 2 million to 3 million USD by Oct 2024 has been emphasized.

 

More so, the need for an extension of Maternity Leave to six months from the current four months in Enugu State to further boost Maternity and Exclusive Breast Feeding was not left out.

 

It was established that the media has a huge role to play by providing increased coverage and visibility for nutrition related issues in Nigeria.

 

These were some of the highlights during a one day media round table on increased investment in nutrition to scale up quality nutrition services in Enugu State, organized by Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria, CS-SUNN in partnership with UNICEF.

 

In a press statement issued at the end of the event, which held in Enugu on Thursday, CS-SUNN state Coordinator, Finian Ali noted that the private sector is not left out in the call to action insisting that they must support policy implementation through the development of low cost, nutritious complementary foods and home fortification of staple foods and creation of office creches.

 

Ali charged CSOs and NGOs to continue advocating for the implementation of maternal and child nutrition interventions, promote sustained community health education on nutrition and also push for the implementation of six months maternity protection with pay.

Malnutrition and nutrition related diseases have remained a public health concern in Nigeria due to complex factors.

Malnutrition is a formidable cause of death, with stunting, in particular, linked to adverse outcomes such as poor brain and cognitive development, a loss of 2-3 years of schooling, poor school performance and diminished productivity in adulthood.

According to the National Food Consumption and Micronutrient Survey (NFCMS) conducted in 2021, approximately eleven million (33%) of children aged under 5 years in Nigeria are stunted, while four million children (12%) are wasted with an astonishing 21 million (62%) children suffering from anemia.

In Enugu state, NDHS 2018 reveals that 14.8% of children under-five are stunted, 6.1% are underweight, and 2.5% are wasted. This statistics translates to over 159,000 stunted children and over 24,000 wasted children in Enugu state.

 

Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) is a non-governmental, non-profit making coalition, made up of organizations with a shared vision to transform Nigeria into a country where every citizen has food and nutrition is secured. CS-SUNN pursues this lofty goal by engaging and mobilizing Government, and Non-State Actors to advocate for relevant Policy implementation, raise awareness, generate evidence, build capacity and stimulate communities to scale-up nutrition in Nigeria, with especial focus on maternal and child nutrition.

 

 

 

 

 

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