The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has partnered with the Bayelsa State Ministry of Health and the media on increased reportage on child nutrition and breastfeeding in the state.
The UN body made this known at the commencement of a two-day media programme tagged, ‘Dialogue on Increased Advocacy and Reporting on Nutritional Response to Child Nutrition in Emergencies — A PARSNIP Project’.
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The programme, according to UNICEF, was expected to take media stakeholders to an on-the-spot field assessment and reportage on child nutrition across flood impacted local government areas of the state.
In his opening remarks, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Pabara Newton Igwele, applauded UNICEF for the partnership.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Toyin Azebi, the Commissioner pledged the government’s commitment in curbing issues associated with malnutrition.
Igwele said the government would not relax on its laurels in sensitising the women, especially mothers and adolescents on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding and adequate nutrition for children across the state.
Also speaking, a nutrition specialist from the UNICEF Port Harcourt Field Office, Mrs. Ngozi Onuora, who gave an overview of the 2021 MICS snapshot on child nutrition in the state, noted that the global recommendation for exclusive breastfeeding for the year 2023 stood at 60% while Bayelsa’s current index was still as low as six per cent.
Mrs Onuora also said that the introduction of newborn children to breastfeeding in the state stood at an average of 35%, noting that exclusive breastfeeding and adequate nutrition were paramount in the sustenance of child health.
She hinted that the growth and development of humans was dependent on the first 1,000 days after birth, hence adequate nutrition was inevitable.
She said: “The growth and development of humans depends on the first 1000 days after birth. If children are exclusively breastfed and adequate nutrition given, there won’t be malnourishment which leads to stunted growth of children.
“Malnourishment affects the brains, and therefore retards growth of children which would ultimately affect their performance in academics and other social aspects of life. The development could lead to poor economic inputs in terms of employment opportunities for these children when they reach a supposedly employable age.”
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