Malnutrition: Gombe receives 10, 000 cartons of RUTF
The Gombe State Ministry of Health has received 10, 000 cartons of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) from the federal government, for the treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in the state.
Chairman of the Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) coalition, Alhassan Yahaya, disclosed this to newsmen shortly after inspecting the RUTF at the central store of the ministry.
He commended the federal government for providing the RUTF in sufficient quantity for the benefit of several malnourished children across the 11 LGAs of the state.
The chairman of the MNCH coalition, a group of CSOs working in diverse fields, said about 10,000 cartons of RUTF allocated to the state are already in the central store of the state Ministry of Health.
According to him, this is the first time the state received large quantity of the RUTF, which he said would go a long way in tackling the problem of SAM in the state.
“We commend the federal government for providing that huge quantity of RUTF, on our part we will ensure that there is no diversion and the supplement reaches the target groups who are predominantly from less privileged backgrounds,” he said.
Yahya added that the MNCH coalition would intensify its campaign to ensure that people from all the nooks and crannies of the state to enlighten them on malnutrition and preventive measures to avoid the scourge.
He also stressed the need for the public to focus attention on preventive measures of malnutrition than curative, saying prevention is easier and cheaper than curing the ailment.
The chairman said to save children from malnutrition exclusive breast feeding during the first six months of child birth is recommended, with complementary feeding with food after six months.
Our correspondent reports that the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi, and other government functionaries witnessed the event which was attended by over 200 Tsangaya teachers and other Islamic scholars across 11 LGAs of the state.