By: Danjuma Attah, Gombe
The Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has called on Journalists to heighten reporting of nutrition issues to stimulate action towards curbing malnutrition in Gombe State.
Jessica Bathelomeo, CS-SUNN’s State Coordinator for Kaduna State made the call during a roundtable parley with Journalists.
For this reason, she said, CS-SUNN is ready to continually equip the media with relevant information for thorough and factual reporting which should in turn improve the nutrition status of children and women in the State.
She told the Journalists that though the Gombe State Government has shown some commitment to addressing malnutrition through the domestication of the NSPAN (in 2016 and later reviewed in 2023) and operationalization of the State Food and Nutrition Policy, there are disturbing statistics that indicates a lot is yet to be done to combat the scourge of malnutrition in Gombe.
According to her, CS-SUNN stresses the critical need to reinforce efforts to ensure that every infant in Gombe can enjoy healthier and more prosperous lives.
CS-SUNN also called on the Gombe State Government to allocate and release promptly adequate funds for the implementation of nutrition interventions designed to reduce malnutrition in the state as well as extend maternity leave for nursing mothers from the current four to six months with pay.
She said, “timely release of funds to implement the activities in the Gombe Multisectoral Plan of Action for Nutrition as well as the establishment of Nutrition Departments in all line Ministries, Department and Agencies is key.
“Scale-up staple food fortification initiatives for availability of affordable nutritious foods”, are also some high points of our call to actions to Government.
CS-SUNN, a non-governmental, non-profit-making coalition, is dedicated to transforming Nigeria into a country where every citizen has secured food and nutrition.
It pursues this vision through engagement, mobilization of Government and non-state actors, advocacy for policy implementation, awareness raising, evidence generation, capacity building, and community stimulation to scale up nutrition in Nigeria, with a particular focus on maternal and child nutrition.
