LASG set to reduce malnutrition indices
The Lagos State Government {LASG} on Wednesday expressed its readiness to work with nutrition partners to reduce the malnutrition indices in the state.
Mrs Yewande Falugba, the Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Youth and Social Development, said this during an advocacy visit by the Civil Society-Scaling Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) team to the ministry.
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She said that enhancing nutrition among children, women and the elderly was crucial to the government.
She said that the ministry would set up a committee to work on improving nutrition among the groups listed above.
According to her, Lagos state has various homes being overseen by the ministry, adding that nutritionists were employed to ensure that meals with nutritional benefits were served in those homes.
“Babies in orphanages cannot be breastfed but there are alternatives to ensure that they get the required nutritional benefits,’’ she said.
She said that the ministry, saddled with the responsibility of providing succour to the vulnerable, would ensure that it serves their interests by promoting their inclusion and welfare.
Earlier, Mrs Beatrice Eluaka, the Executive Secretary, CS-SUNN, said that the state had to take urgent actions to reduce its malnutrition indices.
She said that that stunting rate in the state which she said was standing at 17.3 per cent was high.
She added that the state’s wasting rate at 6.6 per cent was also above the five per cent specified by the World Health Organisation.
Eluaka advised the state government to embark on actions that would reduce the rate.
She , however, commended the state government for approving nutrition budget lines across key line ministries in the state’s 2020 budget.
She called for cash backing and timely release of funds to facilitate the full implementation of the State Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action for Nutrition.
Eluaka said that the CS-SUNN would continue to advocate and improve capacity building of relevant stakeholders until Nigeria is transformed into a country where every citizen has food and nutrition secured.
