Katsina, UNICEF Injects N400m to Tackle Malnutrition

•Procure food supplements for 8,000 malnourished children

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

The Katsina State Government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have procured 7,000 cartons of Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and other supplementary food worth N400 million to tackle severe acute malnutrition bedeviling children in the state.

The UNICEF Country Representative, Cristian Mundauate, who disclosed this Wednesday while handing over the food supplements to the state government in Katsina, said the RUTF will provide life-saving assistance to 8,000 malnourished children under five years in the state.

She said the food supplements were purchased by UNICEF in collaboration with the Katsina State Government through the Child Nutrition Match Fund, as part of the UN agency’s commitment in taming severe acute malnutrition and other impediments beleaguering children in the state.

Mundauate said: “Today (Wednesday), we are delivering about 7,000 cartons of RUTF purchased by UNICEF and the Katsina State Government. These RUTFs will be used to attend and provide life-saving assistance to almost 8,000 children under five years who suffered severe acute malnutrition.

“They are the children that are so weak and about to die. Unfortunately, many of them who have reached this state already had impaired their intellectual capacities for life long. So, we are saving them so that they can function as any other children who can grow and develop in normal conditions.”

While receiving the RUFT, Governor Dikko Umaru Radda said: “Katsina State has a very high number of malnourished children”, but the rapprochement between the state government and the United Nations Children’s Fund would significantly improve children’s health and eradicate the scourge in the state.

He said the state government and UNICEF have injected the N400 million as matching funds to provide the needed nutrients to children between zero to five years, adding that addressing malnutrition at the tender age remained the cardinal objective of his administration.

According to him, “We are happy that UNICEF is matching the amount we put on ground to provide the needed nutrients to Katsina children below the age of five. That is the most critical period in life.

“If we are able to address the issue of malnutrition within that range (zero to five) we are saving lives. Katsina State Government has provided N200 million which UNICEF has equally matched with N200 million”.