Stakeholders in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have called for the extension of micronutrients administered to infants through food fortification.
The stakeholders made this known in Abuja on Thursday at a Close-out Meeting of the Community Component in Enhancing Infant and Young Children Nutrition.
The event which was organised by Plan International in partnership with Nutrition International with support from Canada, was aimed at providing Micronutrient Powders (MNPs) to over 60,000 children to improve their nutritional wellbeing.
The project is a one year intervention to improve nutritional wellbeing of children within six to 23 months through provision of home food fortification in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and Gwagwalada Area Council.
Mr Ahmed Abdullahi, from Gwagwalada Area Council, commended the organisations, saying that the project had helped children in the community to grow well.
While calling for the extension of the project, Abdullahi said that many children needed to be captured into the project to improve their wellbeing.
Similarly, Mrs Grace Ezra, a beneficiary mother from Dako in AMAC, while recounting the benefits of the nutrient, said the micronutrients had boosted her children’s appetite.
” When I started collecting this micronutrients, one of my twin children falls ill every now and then but with the nutrients, they are now very strong.
” I can tell that my children who don’t eat before now can now eat very well with the micronutrients, so the partners should please not allow this to end. We need more of the vitamins for our children,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Local Project Advisor, Nutrition International, Mr Davis Omotola, called for the sustainability of the project by the government to reduce the malnutrition rate in the country.
” These are the MMP called micronutrient powders, and it contains about 11 minerals and vitamins. It’s been widely approved and used to control iron deficiency anemia in children.
” In Nigeria, we recognise the fact that the level of anemia that is blood shortage can lead to loss of life.
“And in Nigeria, results or evidence shows that 65 per cent of our children suffers anemic and the implication of that is that they will be weak and not be able to do their work.
” it’s important to also understand it is a very very critical opportunity for them at that age bracket to learn and if a child misses the opportunity to learn, it will be very difficult for their brain development,” he said.
Also, Dr Rukaya Wamakko, Director, FCT Primary Health Care Department, commended the project implementers saying it had positively impacted on children in the territory.
She assured the sustainability as well as follow up of the project while promising to look at other area councils to help other children get the right nutrient to live.
He pledged to support International Non-governmental Organisations for the country to prosper in the area of nutrition.
Speaking on the project overview, the Project Coordinator, Plan International, Mary Mbukpa,
said that micronutrient deficiencies especially deficiencies in iron and vitamin A affect more than two billion people worldwide.
Mbukpa said this had increased the risk of stunted growth, cognitive delays, and weakened immunity among young children.
According to her, in FCT, the prevalence appears better but it accounts for all of the urban areas not only the urban poor.
” Regardless, one in five children under five years are stunted, only 19.1 per cent of children aged six to 23 months are fed the minimum acceptable diet, and over half of the children six to 59 months are anemic.
” The global burden of childhood malnutrition has been a continuing concern for decades, but the progress achieved so far has been far from optimal,” she said.
She, therefore, stressed the need to get proper nutrition for infants from their 1,000 days so as to improve on their growth and wellbeing.
