Katsina Spends N390m on Malnutrition

Katsina Spends N390m on Malnutrition

The Katsina State Government has said it has expended N390 million to effectively tackle Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) bedeviling children and pregnant women in the state between 2017 to 2018. The government also disclosed that it had inaugurated a taskforce on implementation of adolescent nutrition programme in three local government areas of Kafur, Rimi and Kankia.

Wife of the State Governor, Dr. Hadiza Bello Masari, who revealed this during a stakeholders meeting on nutrition yesterday, organised by Aisha Buhari Foundation, Future Assured, said the funds were used to procure Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). She said: “The State government released the sum of N250,000 monthly to each of the 14 selected Local Government Areas as support for Community-based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (CMAM).

The state government also procured Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to the tune of N250 million in 2017 and 140 million in 2018. Government also distributed iron folate and asbendazole to schools and out-of-school children in three selected LGAs of Rimi, Kafur and Kankia”. Earlier, the State Nutrition Officer, Abdulhadi Abdulkadir, said a total of 33,769 children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) have been enrolled into the CMAN programme between January to October 2019.

He lamented that: “The programme only cover 14 local governments out of the 34 LGAs and 361 wards that we have in Katsina State, which is not enough considering the number of children that are having malnutrition and the number of children dying as a result of malnutrition”.

Related Articles