Gombe State House of Assembly has reiterated commitment to support campaign aimed stemming Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in the state.
Mr Ali Manu, the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, stated this when members of the coalition of Civil Society Organizations Coalition (CSOs) against SAM, visited the House, on Thursday in Gombe.
Manu said the House would support campaign aimed at reducing the burden of SAM in the state.
He noted that Gov. Inuwa Yahaya accorded priority to healthcare service delivery, adding that the Assembly had keyed into the priority area and support the state government’s healthcare programmes.
“As the chairman House Committee on Appropriation; I will ensure that fund allocated for nutrition has been adequately increased or the amount is maintained.
“Speaker; Abubakar Sadiq-Kurba is one of the nutrition champion in the state, therefore, no body will temper with nutrition allocation,” he said.
Manu advised the organisations to actively engage the line ministries with clear provision for nutrition services to ensure effective utilisation of the fund.
The nutrition line ministries included Health;Women Affairs, Science and Technology as well as Agriculture.
Also speaking, Mr Alhassan Yahya, spokesman of the organisations decried the high rate of SAM in the northeast, describing the trend as “pathetic”.
Yahya noted that the National Nutrition and Health Survey 2018, indicated that Nigeria has 2.6 million cases of SAM with Northeast where Gombe is located carrying the highest burden of 60 per cent of the cases.
He, therefore, advocated for increase in nutrition funding to curb the menace of SAM in the state.
it is reported that the organisations included the Care for life; SAIF Foundation, International Society of Media in Public Health (ISMPH), and Advocacy Centre for Nigeria, among others.
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