Gombe State has received 1.7 million sachets of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to treat 11,518 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
The 11,518 cartons of therapeutic food were procured by the state government through the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) counterpart funding initiative.
Speaking at the handover ceremony in Gombe, UNICEF Bauchi Chief of Field Office, Dr. Nuzhat Rafique, described the delivery as a significant step towards combating child malnutrition and improving survival.
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She said the RUTF would treat children aged six to 23 months, explaining that it was the gold-standard treatment for severe acute malnutrition and enabled children to receive care through community-based services.
Citing the 2023–2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, Rafique said 50.6 per cent of children under five in Gombe were stunted, while 8.8 per cent suffered from wasting.
She commended the state government for providing counterpart funding and strengthening its Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition programme.
Dr. Rafique reaffirmed UNICEF’s commitment to supporting the state in improving nutrition services, strengthening supply chains and promoting appropriate infant and young child feeding practices.
She urged stakeholders to ensure the supplies reached the intended beneficiaries without diversion or misuse, stressing that sustained investment and community engagement were essential to tackling malnutrition.
“Ensuring the continuous availability of these life-saving nutrition commodities is essential to protecting children from the devastating consequences of malnutrition,” she said.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Professor Bertha Abdu, appreciated UNICEF for its continued support, particularly programmes focused on women and children.
She stressed that adequate nutrition was fundamental to child development, warning that nutritional deficiencies could cause serious health and developmental challenges.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Habu Dahiru, said raising physically healthy and mentally sound children was crucial to the state’s future development.
He said the government was complementing UNICEF’s interventions through local production of nutrient-rich food to address malnutrition.
According to him, the ministry had scaled up production and was collaborating with the North-East Development Commission to expand its production facility to serve Gombe and neighbouring states.
Dr. Dahiru expressed readiness to work with UNICEF and other development partners to expand local production, particularly to tackle moderate malnutrition.
He also gave the assurances that the government would monitor the distribution of the RUTF to ensure it reached the children for whom it was procured.
The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Micah Sunday, described UNICEF as a key development partner supporting the state’s efforts to improve children’s wellbeing.
He said tackling malnutrition would promote physical health, brain development and educational outcomes, helping children grow into healthy and productive members of society.
The intervention is expected to strengthen access to life-saving nutritional treatment across Gombe State, while highlighting the need for sustained investment in prevention, early detection and community-based nutrition services.
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