By Rauf Oyewole
The Bauchi State Government in collaboration with development partners like CASCADE, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and others have launched the state action plan on food and nutrition, a move to reduce the burden of severe acute malnutrition.
Bauchi, one of the states with the highest rate of malnourished children in the last few years, has been working on the plan to combat the menace.
The state yesterday, unveiled a five-year action plan of N40,674,237,919 multi-sectoral document.
Seven of the state ministries, departments and agencies are; Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Education, Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management.
Others included; the state's Ministry of Information and Communication, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Women Affairs and Child Development and Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination.
Last month, UNICEF announced that 54,000 children in Bauchi State face malnutrition –representing 2 in 10 children.
Speaking yesterday at the launch, Deputy Governor, Auwal Jatau who is also the Chairman, State Nutrition Council, said that the 2024-2028 Multisectoral Action Plan for Food and Nutrition, was a strategic approach to combat malnutrition and improve food security in the state.
Jatau remarked that to fight malnutrition and hunger, the state government has made adequate budgetary provision in the annual budget for nutrition programmes such as Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM), Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) among others.
According to him, "It is for this reason that the State Government has taken the bold step to produce a holistic state strategic plan of action for Nutrition in a process where all relevant sectors at all levels were involved. Nine priority areas have been identified that are considered key to improving Nutritional status in the State.
"In particular, the plan also identifies the need for strengthened collaboration between sectors and improved
financing and accountability mechanisms to achieve the ambitious targets.
"This costed plan will also serve as a resource mobilisation tool for the state and subsequently an allocation guide for effective implementation as well as proper program monitoring and evaluation.” He said.
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