By Danjuma Attah, Gombe
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Gombe State Government has procured 5,830 cartons of Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) in an effort to address malnutrition in Gombe State.
Gombe State Government had keyed in to the Child Nutrition Match Fund supported by generous mix of donors including Government of the United Kingdom.
Other donors are, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other partners, and managed by UNICEF. It is a unique match funding instrument in which UNICEF and its partners match Government financing of essential nutrition commodities in a ratio of 1:1.
The RUTF is targeted at treating 6,529 children with severe wasting and Dr. Nuzhat Rafique, head of office, UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, stated while handing over the the commodity to the Gombe State Government that over 80% of the children in the state suffer from child food poverty, that is, Children who do not consume a diverse diet to support growth and development.
She explained that Gombe State has a high burden of malnutrition as 51% of Gombe’s children are stunted, 8.8% are wasted, and 64% of pregnant women suffer from anaemia1.
She commended the State Government for the release of the funds which has led to the procurement of the RUTF and urged it to release even more resources in 2025 which UNICEF will also match to procure more commodities through the CNF.
Dr. Nuzhat assured that, “UNICEF will continue to partner with the State and work across key sectors to improve nutrition and health outcomes of indigenes of Gombe state including women and children”.
Receiving the RUTF, the State Deputy Governor, Manasseh Daniel Jatau (PhD), commended the UNICEF and it’s efforts in advancing the welfare of children.
He reiterated the commitment of the Inuwa led administration in improving maternal child health which led to the payment of previous counterpart funds. He assured that within the first and second quarter of 2025, more counterpart funds will be paid.
The CNF allows Government to double their investment in essential nutrition commodities to accelerate the scale-up of policies, programmes for the prevention, early detection, and treatment of malnutrition.
Gombe State was one of the early adopters of the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) and released 175 million Naira in 2023. This was matched by the same amount by UNICEF.
Malnutrition in Nigeria is on the rise and is driven by conflict, forced displacement and an uprise in food insecurity caused by limited food accessibility and affordability.
Nigeria currently has the highest number of malnourished children in Africa and the second highest globally as over 9 million children are currently wasted.
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