Experts urge FG to commit to Child Nutrition Fund

Some nutrition experts have urged the federal government to commit to the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) to ensure access to the Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) for pregnant women in the country.

The experts made this known in separate interviews at the end of a five-day stakeholders strategic advocacy meeting on nutrition in Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

Lilian Okafor, the spokesperson for the Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), described the CNF as a proven solution to combat malnutrition.

She emphasised CNF’s potency as a UNICEF-backed funding mechanism, matching state governments’ contributions to tackle malnutrition head-on.

Ms Okafor applauded states that have keyed into the initiative for response to malnutrition, especially in pregnancy. She urged the federal government to also key into the initiative to ensure access and availability of MMS in public health facilities nationwide.

“This will enable the government to come up with some form of counterpart funding to fund the purchase, sale and distribution of MMS,” she added.

Asamau Mohammed, the state nutrition officer in Niger, said the state is one of the few that have already keyed into the CNF initiative and already reaping its benefits, among which is the improvement of well-being of pregnant women.

She appealed to the federal government to do the same, especially to support states that had yet to subscribe to the initiative.

Rashidat Popoola, the state nutrition officer in Osun, said the state keying into the CNF would go a long way in promoting nutrition programmes in Osun and impacting the people positively, especially young children and pregnant women.

She also appealed to the federal government to key into the CNF to access the fund and procure and make the MMS available in public health facilities to reduce health challenges during pregnancy and childbirth.

Orume Beatrice, the deputy director of the nutrition department in the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, described the CNF as an important funding mechanism that would provide funds for the federal government to procure essential nutrition commodities like MMS for pregnant women and unborn children.

She appreciated the call of nutrition stakeholders on the need for the government to key into the CNF and assured that the federal government would look into the project request.

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare organised the five-day meeting in collaboration with CS-SUNN and other key nutrition partners, focusing on crafting a comprehensive national advocacy strategy to tackle the country’s nutrition challenges.

The meeting, held from August 20 to 24, sought to strengthen evidence-based nutrition advocacy, integrate key interventions like MMS and unify efforts toward addressing the country’s burden of malnutrition, undernutrition, overnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.

(NAN)