The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) says it will continue to engage lawmakers to ensure improved and sustainable nutrition investment in Nigeria.
Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa, disclosed this during a legislative summit on the prevention and treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) to mark the World Food Day in Kaduna State.
An estimated two million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), but only two out of every ten children affected is reached with treatment’, according to a 2016 UNICEF report.
Musa said the summit, which was organised by CISLAC, sought to provide a platform for legislators to understand the situation of nutrition in their various states.
‘The existing ailing and underfunded primary health care facilities in the country has hampered effort at achieving adequate and sustainable treatment and prevention of SAM at all levels’, he said.
Musa argued that the N146 million earmarked for the treatment of children experiencing severe and acute malnutrition in the 2021 budget is unacceptable.
As for Speaker of the Gombe State House of Assembly, Abubakar Ibrahim, he applauded CISLAC for organising the event and pledged to intensify the state’s effort in addressing challenges of malnutrition.
Source: Radio Nigeria
Photo source: UNICEF/Naftalin
