By Philip Yatai
Kaduna – The Accelerating Nutrition Result in Nigeria (ANRiN) in Kaduna State, says the project will strengthen preventive intervention against malnutrition among children, women and adolescents in the state.
Dr Zainab Muhammad-Idris, Programme Coordinator of ANRiN, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Wednesday in Kaduna.
Muhammad-Idris said that the project would cover all the 23 local government areas of the state.
She said ANRiN was a five-year World Bank-funded project secured by Kaduna State Government, for preventive activities against malnutrition.
According to her, the project is designed to protect children from the devastating and life-long effects of stunting malnutrition through the scale-up of cost-effective interventions.
“It is designed to strengthen the role of the state to plan, finance, implement and monitor large-scale nutrition programmes, through effective coordination of all nutrition activities in the state,’’ she said.
Muhammad-Idris also explained that the project was structured to increase access to quality and cost-effective health and nutrition services to vulnerable groups like pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls and children under five years old.
According to Muhammad-Idris, the programme will enhance behavioural change around nutritional practices and the way people handled food right from the farm to the point of consumption.
“It will promote preventive activities through improving nutritional practice in the state.
“This will ensure that the targeted group, including other community members, has the right nutrients that will reduce chronic malnutrition.
“It will also reduce maternal and child mortality rates in the state.
“This, in the long run, will improve the nutrition indices in the state, increase school completion rate and performance, as well as improve the productivity of the state’s labour force.’’
The coordinator added that the project would also initiate a programme for micronutrients deficiency.
She, however, said that the state was yet to begin a formal programme on micronutrient powder provision.
The ANRiN project, she noted, would conduct research to generate the needed evidence around nutrition situation in the state, as well as manage health and nutrition information for decision making.
“Right now, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency is in the process of contracting qualified firms for the state to provide services at community levels.
“We have equally sent consultants to the field to carry out mapping of nutrition interventions across the state.
“They will generate data on nutrition services being provided, locations where the services are being provided, who is providing the services and the gaps that need to be filled,’’ she added.
(NAN)