William Attah, Gombe
Gombe State Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation says it is waiting for a trigger to start local production of an alternative to Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) in handling cases of malnutrition in the State.
RUTF is what is used to revive children that have been hit by severe acute malnutrition and UNICEF has been the only organization that imports the food to Nigeria to revive many malnourished children.
Speaking when the Civil Society Advocacy Group with support from Aisha Buhari Foundation, International Society for Media in Family Health, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre and Network for Health, Equity and Development paid a courtesy call on her, the Commissioner, Mrs Aishatu Maigari assured that her ministry will not lag behind in the fight against malnutrition in the State.
According to her, the ministry awaits a ‘trigger letter’ from any angle to start off a mapped out process of rescuing thousands of malnourished children in the state.
She said, they have been in consultation with the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) in about 2-3 occasions before identifying the gaps where the ministry can come in since the last two months.
According to the Commissioner, “We promised to procure raw materials for them but we were asked to hold on. What we are waiting for is for ANRIN to write us, but if we can get the trigger, any letter even if it is from you, we can build on that”.
Shedding more light on efforts made so far, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Gideon Maidawa, said, “We shall be conducting research on suitable soil for the cultivation of groundnut that will be used in the complementary feeding because it requires groundnut, soya beans and millet.“
He explained that the most important component is the groundnut which has Botulinum toxin and if the quantity is high, it becomes harmful to the children.
Maidawa said, “one of our functions is to carry out research to find out the most suitable soil in Gombe state, where we can produce that which is most acceptable, after production we are expected to carry out test to ensure they are not harmful to the children.
“ANRiN has made us to understand it has procured 11 sets of mixers, sealers across the LGAs. Our function is to procure and supply across the 11 centres that will grind, mix and seal it and be given to the malnourished children”.
Earlier, chairman of the advocacy group, Alhassan Yahaya said the group was worried about its findings at the Kwami Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) centre.
He described the situation at the centre as ‘pathetic’ adding that “In that new CMAM centre in Kwami, we have over three hundred and fifty (350) children coming out weekly to collect RUTF.”
While appreciating the challenges in procurement, Yahaya urged government to consider complementary feeding as a possible way out.
“From November last year to July, Gombe state government in collaboration with the ministry of health supported the state with 12,000 cartons of RUTF.
“As I speak, from November to July we consumed the 12,000 cartons of RUTF and over 300 million naira worth of RUTF. This shows clearly that there is no government in Nigeria that will continue in the funding of RUTF. The solution to this is Infant Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and we are aware that under this very ministry there is budgetary allocation to make our local food serve as complementary feeding.”
