Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has called for Nasarawa State’s Multi-sectoral Strategic Plan of Action on Nutrition (NSMSPAN) to be fully implemented in the state.
Mrs Beatrice Eluaka, the Executive Secretary of CS-SUNN, made the appeal on Thursday in Lafia during a high-level advocacy and policy consultation on the nutrition situation in Nasarawa State.
Eluaka said that beautiful proposals and publications have been established in the past without being implemented, and she urged policymakers to take immediate steps to ensure the complete implementation of NSMSPAN.
She reaffirmed the CS-willingness SUNN’s to continue to champion the cause of nutrition in the state and Nigeria in general.
“What we are attempting to do is ensure that this document, which was created specifically for Nasarawa State, is approved by policymakers, especially the executive governor of Nasarawa State.
“We are committed to ensuring the implementation of this law, and each of us sitting here has a duty to ensure the implementation of this document,” she added.
Mrs Mercy Asso, Nasarawa State CS-SUNN Coordinator, clarified that the aim of developing NSMSPAN was to provide a document that could be used to direct implementation.
It was also to lead the interventions and programs that will solve the issues of poverty and malnutrition, according to Asso.
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She stated that the document, which originated from the conceptual process defined in the state policy on food and nutrition, would be used as a working tool by area councils.
She cited inadequate awareness of proper diet activities such as exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding among locals as one of the challenges faced by CS-SUNN in the state.
Others, according to her, include lack of funds to help the execution of diet activities by the state’s nutrition implementing ministries, departments, and agencies.
She also listed lack of proper framework for appropriate diet activity control.
The high-level advocacy and policy discussion on nutrition, which included lectures on nutrition, attracted participants from various sectors of society.
Meanwhile, recommendations were made to increase understanding of exclusive breastfeeding, as well as outreach visits to area council chairmen to create a committee on food and wellness in their respective councils.
Others include the call for qualified nutritionists to act as nutrition desk officers at all levels, the empowerment of rural women to focus on exclusive breastfeeding, and the request for the state’s executive council to launch a strategy document on nutrition.
