Jigawa state is one of the states with the worst maternal and child deaths, however, attention is now focused on addressing the menace as BAYO MUHAMMAD ALABIRA writes.
If there is any problem affecting most families in Jigawa state at the moment, it is infant malnourishment and child stunting. Also, maternal and child mortality has been a long standing problem that has defied all solutions due to lack of adequate food and nutrition across the state.
Child stunting, for instance, has become incessant and has reached a devastating and alarming rate at 63. 4 percent. Report indicates that if proper action is not taken at the right time, it could get out of hand by throwing many families into mourning the death of both mothers and children.
Towards tackling the menace
To bring this problem to immediate end, two programmes were launched recently by the state government in collaboration with the United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF) and Action against Hunger (AAH) in Dutse, the state capital.
The two programmes are Food and Nutrition as well as Social Protection Policies. These policies, according to investigation by Blueprint, if implemented religiously, would save the lives of thousands of stunting and malnourished children alongside their mothers from miserable death.
To this end, the Jigawa State Social Protection Policy (JSSPP) framework is said to have derived its inspiration from the National Social Protection policy (NSPP) launched on January 24, 2019. JSSPP presented in four chapters cover the entire length and breath of the programme with initiative policies covering the entire state.
Part of the policies includes introductory concept of social protection, policy’s impetus, approaches, principles, rationale goals and objectives while the socio-economic context of the policy’s main focus of the document with reference to social protection and implementation strategies are also encapsulated in the policy document.
High rate prevalence
The 2015 Smart Survey carried out revealed that the state has the worst nutrition indices in the whole country. This is especially the prevalence of stunting and under-weight women estimated to be about 63.4 percent and 40.6 percent.
Furthermore, a mental picture was painted against nutritional status of women within the productive circle in the state. Also, a large proportion of deaths of children under the age of five were blamed on poor nutrition and Ready-To-Use-Therapy (RTUP). These and other issues related to lack of nutritional food have complicated so many problems in the state for so long.
Also, the Nigerian Poverty Assessment reported by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the level of poverty is still spreading wide across the state. This level was reported to be more than 74.1 percent down from 90.9 percent. Even though the level is said to be declining, it is still more than the estimated national average of about 61 percent.
UNICEF
In view of this, the chief field officer UNICEF in Bauchi zone, Mr Bhanu Pathak, who was represented at the launch by the nutrition specialist, Philomena Irene, told the gathering that everything possible would be done to fulfill its mandate towards ensuring the survival and the life improvement of both child and the mother.
“About half of child mortality in Nigeria is attributable to malnutrition. Therefore, good nutrition plays a leading role in averting the deaths of children. Ensuring proper nutrition of children requires a life-cycle approach whereby adequate nutrition commences from conception to new born until the baby grows into an adolescent and then adulthood,” she stressed.
Irene further explained that through UNICEF, funding from donors agencies were made possible and realisable such as the Department for International Development (DFID), the United Kingdom and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) which supported the state government to domesticate the institutional framework to address the nutrition cases in the state through Jigawa state Nutrition policy, Jigawa state Costed Multi-sectoral Nutrition Plan and Jigawa state Social and Behavioral Change Communication (SBCC) strategy for infants and young child feeding practices.
According to UNICEF for a new born child, “Getting the right nutrition at the time is critical especially within the first one thousand days. This is because a malnourished child is bounds to have lower Intelligent Quotient (IQ) as well as impaired cognitive with resultant to negative effects on he or her performance in school and productivity in later life.
“Each child deserves the best start in life which begins with a health and well-nourished mother. Exclusive breast-feeding during the first six months of life and continuous breast-feeding with the introduction of complement food until the child is two years and beyond is a necessity. UNICEF will support Jigawa state government to develop guidelines for role out of no-water campaign, monitor quality of health management information system (HMIS) and provide supportive supervision, build capacity of the state ministry of health and its agencies.”
Action against Hunger
Similarly, the country director of the Action against Hunger (AAH), Shashwat Saraf, said the agency has been an implementing partner of both the Child Development Grant (CDGP) and Working to Improve Nutrition in Northern Nigeria (WINNN) programmes in the state right from 2013 to date. He said this is aimed at building evidence on the impact of social protection in addressing under-nutrition problem of a child within the first one thousand days on earth. The agency, he announced, has also implemented WINNN for six years in northern in Nigeria from 2011 to 2017.
“We have conducted series of capacity building ranging from study tours, field visits, trainings, workshops on social protection such as the designing and implementing of social protection programmes, the operationalisation of social protection, cash transfer design, social protection curriculum development among others,” he added.
He also acknowledged the effort made by the the state government in improving malnutrition in three implementing WINNN local governments in like Gwiwa, Birninkudu and Guri. He Stated that energy was also geared towards improving infant and young child feeding practices through both WINNN and CDGP programmes in Kirikassama, Gagarawa and Buji LGAs, respectively.
In the same vein, Saraf maintained that the state government has strove hard in supporting the establishment of the Jigawa State Social Protection Council and the state Committee on Food and Nutrition. Its effort also led to the approval of the Food and Nutrition Policy in September 2017 and Social Protection policy in December 2017 by Governor Badaru Abubakar as well as the legislative approval of the two policies by the state House of Assembly in November 2018.
He therefore commended the state government for N1 billion set out for the commencement of a modest Social Protection Cash Transfer and Empowerment Initiative including the social welfare palliative support to the core poor and other vulnerable groups.
He pointed out that the coming agreed cash transfer is targeting three categories of vulnerable people in the state such as pregnant and lactating women, aged people and out-of-school children.
However, the state government is committed toward the survival of women and children. There was an upward review of the budgetary provision and monthly release for free maternal and child health care services from N180 million annually to N900 million. Also the state government has embarked on various social safety net such as conditional cash transfer with over 10,000 vulnerable households benefitting. The state is also collaborating with Dangote Foundation in which 27,000 women, (1000) from each local government area benefit from the cash transfer economic empowerment programme.
Because of this development grant programme by DFID empowerment, about 28,000 pregnant and lactating women in three LGAs of the state were taken care of. And social security programme for the disabled across the state was also part of women beneficiaries.
To a large extent, it has become imperative for state governments in the country to strive hard with a view to addressing the maternal and child mortality in Nigeria. It is, therefore, not out of place to channel resources to where it is needed most.
