Wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, has said the full implementation of policies like the National Strategic Plan of Action on Nutrition would help tackle the burden of malnutrition in the country.
The first lady, who stated this in Abuja during a consultative meeting with local producers of nutrition commodities organised by the Future Assured organisation, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health, UNICEF and other partners, said Nigeria remained one of the highest contributors to the global malnutrition burden.
Mrs. Aisha Buhari said, “Investing in RUTF and nutrition commodities with our local available resources is not only a business, but a contribution to our national development.” The first lady had in 2019 convened an interactive session with the private sector and enjoined them to increase effort towards the local production of RUTF.
She said it was unacceptable for Nigeria to be listed among the highest cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in the world, and that it is improper to rely on the importation of RUTF.
Meanwhile, the minister of health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has that the country is considering local production of nutrition commodities like Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) and micro nutrient powder, saying it would help tackle the burden of malnutrition and improve the country’s Gross Domestic product (GDP). Ehanire also said the federal government was ready to tackle all challenges to domestic production of nutrition products in the country. “The federal government is committed to production of RUTF in six geopolitical zone of Nigeria,” said Ehanire. Leadership