Dr. Dayyabu Muhammad, member of the Kano Emirate Council Committee on Health Development (KECCHD) says 48 per cent of children still require nutritional food in Kano State.

Muhammad said this at a town hall meeting on comprehensive dietary diversity modeling project in Sumaila Local Government Area organised by the KECCHD in collaboration with the UNICEF.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was to sensitise community leaders and women in the area on diet diversity.

According to him, a survey conducted by the UNICEF also revealed that 41.3 per cent of children, especially from six months to two years old in Sumaila and 38.1 in Bichi Local Government Areas are lacking dietry foods.

“Report also indicated that only 30.8 per cent of women breastfeed their new born baby immediately after delivering, only 18.6 per cent of the women exclusively breastfeed their children.

“Only 40.7 per cent of children gets the right food at the appropriate times the baby need. Also, only 32 per cent of the children get the needed foods with vitamins,” he said.

Muhammad added that children of six to 23 months lacks nutritional food like Egg, Meat and Exclusive breastfeeding, explaining that only 12 per cent get food related to breast milk, meat 28 per cent and egg two per cent.

Speaking at the meeting, the Permanent Secretary, Kano State Ministry of Budget Planning, Alhaji Balarabe Hassan, reiterated the state government’s commitment to continuous collaboration in improving the outcomes of nutrition interventions in the State.

Hassan, who is also the Chairman, Kano State Committee on food and nutrition, added that, “You can always count on us to provide necessary support and cooperation needed for harmonious working relationship in combating malnutrition in Kano State.

“Recently, we developed a 5-year cost plan of action on nutrition to the tune of over N18 billion spread over 5 year period.

We also intend to incorporate the plan into the State development plan that will be reviewed in the next couple of days,” he said.

According to him, this will go a long way in providing clear guide and direction for implementation of evidenced based nutrition interventions in the state.

“In our effort to ensure release of funds meant for nutrition projects and programmes, we will continue to provide appropriate training to relevant nutrition stakeholders in the state so that they become appraised with techniques of effective memo writing and submission,” he said.

Responding on behalf of the community leaders, the District Head of Sumaila, Alhaji Ibrahim Ado-Bayero expressed their readiness to go back and also sensitise their followers.

Represented by Malam Salisu Ibrahim, Ado-Bayero commended the UNICEF and the committee for the sensitisation. (NAN)