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The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Dr Lanre Tejuoso, has solicited media support on the ongoing campaign against malnutrition in the country.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Tejuoso made the appeal in an interview in Abuja on Tuesday on the sideline of a two-day workshop on effective media engagement in the fight against malnutrition. He said: “The media should help us achieve what is being achieved in the fight against polio.
“When we had two cases of polio in North East, funds were immediately mobilised, because the media make so much noise about it.”
The chairman noted that polio was currently receiving so much attention and money compared to malnutrition that is killing 1,500 children daily.
“Polio is not killing anybody, but malnutrition that is killing our children daily is not receiving the desired attention polio is receiving.
“We need the media to help us change the shape and size of malnutrition in the country through investigative reportage on how malnutrition is silently killing children across the country,” he said.
He said that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has proposed to take care of 600,000 children out of the 2.5 million acute malnourished children in the country in 2017.
He added that the UN body took care of 400,000 last year, stressing that the country needs N95 billion to take care of the remaining 1.9 million children to ensure their survival.
“Currently, it cost an average of N50,000 to take care of one malnourished child in a year. Multiply N50,000 by 1.9 million to give you an idea of how much budget we need for nutrition,’’ Tejouso said.
“We must do all we can to save this 1.9 million children in 2017. We are in the era of change and everything must change for the better.
“A law was passed in 2014 that specifically said at least one per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund should be allocated to the Basic Health Fund.
“It has been two years and it has not been implemented.
“The change we are looking for in health must start by obeying this law as our contribution to encourage development partners and private sector to participate,’’ the chairman said.
He expressed optimism that the 2017 budget would respect that law.
Earlier, the Head of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Chris Isokpunwu, expressed optimism for significant improvement in allocation for nutrition in the 2017 budget, given the attention being accorded to nutrition by the Senate.
“We have the expertise; when we get the money, we will use it judiciously to create the desired impact and turn the tide around,’’ he said.
On his part, World Health Organisation’s Senior Health Specialist, Mr Okunola Olaolu, underscored the need for government to prepare upfront to effectively tackle malnutrition.
“We don’t have to always do things at emergency. If we plan up front, we will solve the root cause of malnutrition through nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions,’’ Olaolu said.
Similarly, UNICEF’s Nutrition Specialist, Dr Bamidele Omotola, said that much needed to be done in the area of social mobilisation and enlightenment campaign on proper feeding.
It was organised in partnership with Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.