Over 66.1% Kebbi children stunted, USAID steps up efforts to ensure food safety

Over 66.1% Kebbi children stunted, USAID steps up efforts to ensure food safety

The Country Head of Eatsafe Programme in Nigeria, funded by the United States Agency for International Development ( USAID), Dr Augustine Okoruwa, says the agency has stepped up efforts to reduce the menace of malnutrition deficiencies in Kebbi State.

Okoruwa stated this while briefing newsen in Binin Kebbi on Tuesday after a three day meeting with stakeholders on the programme.

He said that the programme would correct the reported statistic of 66.1 per cent of children stunted as a result of malnutrition deficiencies in the state in collaboration with the stakeholders.

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“The Eatsafe programme is not directly to cater for malnutrition, the activities of the programme will eventually ensure safe food containing balance diet, good nutrition for children and adults are made available to general public by food vendors in the markets.

“This project is not about stunting; it is functioning of having good nutrition; having the basic things for growth.

“And according to 2018 surveying, Kebbi state has the highest number of stunted children that runs to 66.1 per cent, and that is the function of nutrition on food we eat.

“This project is related in a way that food we are eating must be safe. If it is not safe, it will cause food born diseases, it will caused you a lot of problem.

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“We are working in tandem with safety of food in the markets where these children could go and eat their food and that is becoming a very critical.

“Food for the children must be safe. We have nutrition and that is why I say this programme is toward evidence of safe nutrition foods, to tackle stunting; the food must be nutrition.

“To ensure that the nutrition is delivered to the children, food must be safe; otherwise, it could result to food born diseases apart from stunting”, he said.

Okoruwa explained that Eatsafe as the project, could not reverse the 66.1 percent stunted statistic of children in the state, stressing that if all stakeholders agreed and achieved their goals, the project would correct the anomaly in the future.

“This project is addressing food safety. And like I said, if the food is not safe, it is not food at all.

“What it does is that, in the process of ensuring the food is safe, those nutrition foods that the children and adults required are protected, healthily consumed. They must be safe, that is the key.

“We are ensuring that these nutrition foods that the vendors are selling are they aware that they need to sell safety food? Are the consumers aware that they need to consume safe food? And those that are preparing the food, are they preparing it under good hygienic condition? ”.

The head of the programme expressed optimism that the programme expected the stakeholders to have better understanding of the project and their own roles and responsibilities as they continued to collaborate and partner with USAID.

In her remarks, the Permanent Secretary, state Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Hajiya Aisha Usman, noted that the USAID was working in collaboration with all stakeholders to ensure food safety in the slmarkets in the state.

“Actually Eatsafe programme has been described, as a programme to make sure markets provide safe and nutrition food to the people.

“So they are working in the markets to ensure that all food in the markets are safe.

“The state government is key into the programme because, you know we have very high malnutrition, poor nutrition in the state.

“So, this malnutrition is attributed to the poor intake or unhygienic food intake. So, one of the key way to ensure that hygienic food is consume is that, the markets will provide very safe food.

“And that is why this project is important to the state government.

“Right from the inception of the programme, we have told them explicitly that we want to be carried along right from the onset of the programme.

“We wouldn’t want a programme that is tele – hijacketed to the state that we wouldn’t be able to say that this is the programme that was designed by the state stakeholders.

“Truth to their words, since they started, we have been involved and considered the roles of stakeholders and we hope they we will continue to carrying us, the stakeholders along,” Usman said.