Nutrition: How UNICEF intervention help us fight malnutrition, poverty – Gombe women
The strategic goal of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in fighting malnutrition in Gombe State has led to the attainment of even a greater concomitant goal, as local women told reporters who are on fact finding visit to Kalurgo community of Kaltungo local government of the state that apart from fighting malnutrition, they are also smiling to the bank.
A women leader Safiya Tani who interacted with newsmen during the visit said she lacks words to thank UNICEF for the life saving skills they have brought to them.
“I can confidently tell you that UNICEF has empowered us in multifaceted ways. The skills they have imparted to us have proven so beneficial to the community to the extent that apart from fighting malnutrition we are also making brisk businesses selling orange flesh sweet potato seedlings, flours and the leaf.
“We are now smiling to the banks with the added income we made from selling orange flesh sweet potato and the flours we make as neighboring communities and people from other states come here to purchase our products,” Tani said.
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She noted that because of the impact of the intervention, the community’s health and well being has improved for the better as every member of the community is looking healthy.
Tani added that “some of us who are resilient enough have turned to farmers of the orange flesh sweet potato. And I can tell you we are reaping bountifully from the venture.”
While speaking on the overall impact of the project on the children of the community especially those from 6 – 23 months, Tani noted that from what she knows, there is no child within the age bracket or any age bracket that is suffering from malnutrition let alone wasting.
“Since UNICEF introduced the orange flesh sweet which is fortified with vitamin A, our children become so healthy. I can confidently tell you that we have no malnourished child in the whole of the community. You can see it for yourself from the children that are here. Can you point to one child who is looking malnourished?
“Before, we had a number of malnourished children but since the intervention of UNICEF, the issue of malnourished children have become a thing of the past. Some women who initially were skeptical about it, have now fully keyed into the project because of the palpable benefits it has.
“I can tell you that in the 10 wards of Kaltungo local government, at least 80 percent of our women have embraced the orange flesh sweet potato because of the impact they see. I believe very soon, all the other families will also key into it because as they say, seeing is believing as those people who initially rejected the project because of some cultural myths and superstitious beliefs have become convinced going by what they see having realized that children of those who embraced it are healthier and stronger,” she said.
Tani said a number of women and families have turned the orange flesh sweet potato farming as their main economic stay noting that with the way people are embracing the business very soon, Kaltungo local government will become the hub of the orange flesh sweet potato business.
She noted that another added advantage is that the leaves of the orange flesh sweet potato are also nutritious and they are using it to prepare sumptuous delicacies and soups adding that based on that realization, people from far and wide come to the area to purchase the leaves for their household needs.
Our main focus in UNICEF is prevention
While speaking to newsmen who are on the project tour, a nutrition specialist with UNICEF, Bauchi field office, Philomena Irene said the strategic goal of her organization is to prevent malnutrition and wastage especially amongst children from 6 – 23 months.
“UNICEF Nigeria nutrition focus is on prevention. Our big focus is to prevent malnutrition instead of waiting for the children to be severely malnourished before treatment.
“Our big focus now is to integrate nutrition to other sectors like WASH, agriculture, social protection, education program and also to scale up our nutrition program in all LGAs and the states in Nigeria.
“Currently we are here in Kalurgo PHC to show you a demonstration of what UNICEF has been doing with caregivers, women with children 6-23 months and why we promote exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life. We also encourage mothers to continue brest feeding from six months to two years and also add complimentary food.
“In Kalurgo PHC here you will see the different kind of complimentary food that we have been promoting that is made up of available locally affordable food that is home grown by the mothers here in Kalurgo making nutritions food that are nutrients dense and you can also see the children that are taking the food in Kalurgo.
“UNICEF is also promoting the orange flesh sweet potato cultivation, we have mothers here that have orange flesh sweet potato farms in their backyard that are growing them alongside other vegetables like Okra, spinach, cabbage tomatoes and also aleyfo called locally so that children can take variety of food that are nutrients dense and fresh and also that are palatable for their taste,” she said.
Irene noted that UNICEF has deployed a nutrition facilitator to the area whose major duty is to carry out food demonstration and recipe demonstration with the women.
“We are going to see the different kind of recipes the women have been able to produce. Currently they meet every month, they pick a recipe and they produced it so they can go home and do a replica,” she noted.
Irene added that apart from ensuring that children from 6-23 months stay healthy and well nourished, the project which has an all encompassing coverage ensures that all members of the family regardless of their age also benefit from healthy eating.
“While we are promoting these foods for 6-23 months we do not forget other children in the family and also the fathers. So we encourage fathers to eat from these foods because our nutrition focus is at the family level because a healthy household also means healthy family,” she added.
Also speaking, Ladi Abdullahi, who is the Kaltungo LGA facilitator, noted that families have embraced the farming and consumption the orange flesh sweet potato which contains vitamin A because of its glaring benefits.
“Families are using different approaches to ensure a well fortified food. They now make their food nutrients dense by introducing the orange flesh sweet potato flour in making different recipes especially tuwo.
“Most of the locally available food in the community is enriched because we are able to introducing vitamin A into them,” she added.
