Nasarawa State Rated First Performing in Safeguarding Against Malnutrition.

Nasarawa State Coordinator, Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN), Mr Illiyasu Tunga, said the state has been rated first performing in safeguarding against malnutrition in the country by the Federal Government.

The state coordinator disclosed this in an interview with Voice of Nigeria on Wednesday in Lafia, the State capital.

He further said that the state was also rated second in Social Behavioural Change Communication and third in Coordination of Development Partners towards reducing the prevalence of malnutrition.

According to him, the ANRiN project is been implemented in 12 states in the country, with high burdens of malnourished children and pregnant women as well as nursing mothers.

He listed the states in the projects are being implemented including Nasarawa, Plateau, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Kaduna, Kano, Kasina, Gombe, Abia, Akwa-Ibom and Oyo.

He explained that the projects had started in 2017 when the data on malnutrition across the country was devastating.

“At that time, it was discovered that over 30 percent of children between zero to five years from the mentioned states were malnourished. So the government was concerned about the prevalence rate of malnutrition and rolled out so many interventions including ANRiN projects aimed at reducing the scourge.”

Mr Tunga added that the project is in four different phases and each phase would last for five years.

“The projects were initiated in 2017, but the Nasarawa State office began activities in 2019 and the first phase of the program would end on December 31, 2023. The data for Nasarawa State in 2018 revealed that because of lack of Vitamin-A, the burden of malnutrition and stunted growth in Nasarawa State was 33 percent.”

He explained that the state government through their office had engaged people from all the electoral wards in the 13 Local Government Areas (LGAs) to provide services to the targeted people to reduce malnutrition.

Mr Tunga added that currently, they are providing seven services to 1,869,385 children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers across the 13 LGAs of the state to tackle the scourge.

He added that four of the services were being provided for children while three is to pregnant women and nursing mothers.

“The interventions for children include, Macro Nutrient Powder, Vitamin A supplement, deworming tablet and Zinc Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS). While for pregnant women and nursing mothers are, Maternal Infant and Young Children Nutrition Counselling, Iron Folic Acid, and Sulfadoxine and Pyrimethamine (Fansider).”

He explained that with their interventions already, the prevalence rate has reduced, but they are waiting for official results from the Federal Government to ascertain the situation at the moment.

He assured the public that the state government would not relent until the malnutrition burden is reduced to its barest minimum.