AGBOR/Nigeria: The Chairman, Ika North East Local Government Area, Barr Victor Ebonka has assured that all necessary measures will be taken to kick out malnutrition in the Local Government Area.
Bar Eborka stated this during an advocacy visit to his office in Ika North East Local Government Council, Owa Oyibu, by the State Chairman of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ). Comrade Patricia Gbemudu.
He said that Nutritionists should exercise caution when dispensing drugs to infants, warning that primary health centres that fail to carry out their work would be dealt with as his administration.
Earlier, Comrade Patricia Gbemudu disclosed that the reason for the visit was to advocate the proper nutrition in feeding of infants and young children especially under the age of five years.
According to Comrade Gbemudu, a survey which was carried out by UNICEF showed that Ika North East, Ethiope West, Oshimili North had the highest mortality rate of young infants under the age of five years.
She added that mothers, youths and adolescents needed to be sensitized on the global policy which demanded exclusive breast feeding of mothers to their babies for the first six months of life and thereafter add supplementary including breast feeding after the six months.
The NOWOJ Chairman gave the breakdown of the UNICEF Survey carried to include 16.3% of children in the state are stunted, 11.2% are under weight while 4.2% are wasted.
She called for a change of attitude in improving the nutrition of children, saying “A healthy child is a healthy nation therefore Malnutrition should be fought against in other to enable a child achieve its potentials in life and this can be corrected through behavioral change and sensitization to the people at all level.”
