Vice President Kashim Shettima has inaugurated the Nutrition Core Working Committee to adopt a strategy to bring down the prevalence of malnutrition in the country. Shettima, while inaugurating the committee, said it would provide the needed expertise for the work of the Nutrition Council of Nigeria.
Shettima, who lamented the unfortunate situation in Nigeria, stated that more needs to be done to ameliorate the situation. He said with 33 per cent prevalence of chronic malnutrition in this country, accounting for US$2.5 billion annually in losses, only 88 of 100 kids under the age of five in Nigeria can survive. Shettima implored the committee to work hard and change Nigeria’s narrative on nutrition. Natural Sound In an interview with newsmen, Special Adviser to the Vice President on Public Health, Dr Uju Okorocha, said 88 of 100 children are most likely not to be able to get to the age of five as a result of malnutrition.
She said that the vice-president had ordered the committee to take proactive and sustainable actions to be able to change narratives in the country.
Uju Okorocha-Special Adviser to the Vice President on Public Health Also, Zouera Youssoufou, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF), affirmed that the committee would support the National Council on Nutrition to help drive this agenda in Nigeria.
Zouera Youssoufou-Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Aliko Dangote Foundation Members of the committee include representatives from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the World Bank Group, Nutrition International, the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, and the Civil Society Scaling-up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN).
