Lagos State Government, Collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, has empowered 60 healthcare professionals with specialized training in maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, with the aim to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition in the state and the country at large.
The State Government is hopeful that the training of healthcare workers, with support from the World Bank’s Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria Project, will lead to a significant reduction in infant mortality rates attributed to malnutrition in the country.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund”s (UNICEF), report, Nigeria has the highest number of malnourished children in Africa and the second highest globally.
The UNICEF report says that 12 million children under the age of five in Nigeria, out of a total of 35 million, are suffering from stunted growth due to chronic malnutrition.
At the ongoing training of health workers in Lagos, the Director and Head of the Nutrition Department at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Ladidi Bako-Aiyegbusi, emphasized that the nutrition workshop focuses on preventive measures and not treatment.
Bako-Ayegbusi, who was represented by the Director and Head of the Nutrition Department at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Maria Odey, said, “This training is specifically for nutrition. It is complementary to some treatment courses like the integrated management of childhood illnesses and the integrated management of acute malnutrition.
“It talks more about nutrition because we know that malnutrition is contributing to over 50 percent of infant mortality.
“So, it is more of a preventive course training and not treatment. It is to encourage mothers and caregivers to use commonly available rich foods to prepare meals for children and promote breastfeeding. We have 60 health workers for the training”, she said.
