In the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria programme, which is funded by the World Bank, Kogi State has outperformed 10 other states in terms of providing community-based nutrition services.
At the sixth ANRIN implementation support event, which was held in Abuja, the state government was awarded the Certificate of Achievement as the Best Performing State: Community-Based Nutrition Service Delivery.
The ANRiN project, funded by the World Bank, is a high-priority healthcare initiative with the goal of increasing the use of high-quality, reasonably priced nutrition services for young children, pregnant and lactating women, and adolescent girls in order to lower illness rates and improve overall wellbeing.
Kogi, Abia, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Plateau, and Katsina were among the eleven states evaluated.
The project’s leaders, who are non-state actors hired through the World Bank’s procurement procedures, noted that participating states would be able to significantly lower infant and maternal mortality by providing for basic health needs, such as deworming for children (12-59 months), IFA supplementation for pregnant women, and malaria care for pregnant women, among others.
The Commissioner for Health in Kogi State, Dr Zakari Usman stated that the initiative had been actively run in Kogi State for five years and added that the state’s achievement of the top spot was made possible by Governor Yahaya Bello’s dedication to the project and to the general revitalization of the health sector.
Usman explained that the project had been actively carried out in Kogi State for five years, adding that the state was able to achieve the first position because of the commitment of Governor Yahaya Bello to the project and to the revitalisation of the health sector in general.
Usman said, “His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello, paid the commitment fund, every year, up to date. There was effective sensitisation of beneficiaries, diligent supervision and monitoring by the PIU, Community ownership of the project by Kogites and excellent managerial ability by the Honourable Commissioner of Health.
“The implication of this feat on the health sector of Kogi State is that the nutrition indices of the State’s women and children will increase greatly; illnesses will be reduced and it will also cause increased GDP and functional population. There will also be reduced maternal and infant mortality among other positive results.”
