The Gombe State Government has bought 1,159 cartons of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) worth N25 million for the treatment of malnutrition in the state.
Mrs. Ronas Amusa, the State Nutrition Coordinator, Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHCDA), stated this in Gombe on Thursday.
The occasion was at the presentation of the nutrition situation of Gombe State during a media engagement on Maternal, Infant Young Child Feeding organised by Civil Society Stalling Up Nutrition (CS-SUNN).
She said that the RUTF recently bought by the government would soon be handed over to the nutrition office.
According to the coordinator, cases of malnutrition in the state are on the increase following the rainy season which is referred to as a lean period because of the shortage of food especially in the rural areas thereby rendering children malnourished.
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She said that the state had 21 Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) centres across five local government areas of Gombe, Akko, Kaltungo, Dukku, and Nafada.
She called on parents to report malnutrition cases to the nearest facility, adding that they have RUTF for the treatment of malnourished children in sufficient quantity.
In her presentation, the state Desks Officer, Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) GSPHDA, emphasised the need for every mother to exclusively breastfeed her child for six months, and thereafter, complementary feeding.
She said that exclusive breastfeeding is very important because, at a certain stage, every child needed the proper nutrients for healthy growth.
Alh. Alhassan Yahya, the Chairman Maternal Neonatal Child Health (MNCH) coalition in Gombe State, said that the indices attached to malnutrition in the state was poor in spite of the availability of RUTF and the awareness created.
According to him, stunted children in Gombe are 51 per cent of the children population, of which 17 per cent are wasted and 33.2 per cent underweight.
Mrs. Comfort Mukollo, who is the state coordinator of Cs-SUNN, said that the aim of the meeting was to engage the media, to include in their reportage the importance of malnutrition prevention.
She said that it was important for the general public in the state to know that the government had all that was needed in their localities to prevent the occurrence of malnutrition.
NAN
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