Stakeholders Collaborate To Address Malnutrition In Women, Children

Federal ministry of women affairs is partnering with the Civil Society Scaling-up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) in a move to tackle issues of malnutrition affecting women and children in the country.

Speaking during a validation meeting on National Guideline on Women and Girls Empowerment for Optimal Nutrition, yesterday in Abuja, the permanent secretary of the federal ministry of women affairs, Gabriel Aduda, emphasised the ministry’s commitment to actively engage in the empowerment, protection, and advancement of women, children, and vulnerable groups across Nigeria.

Represented by the director of child development at the ministry, Ali Andrew-Madugu, the permanent secretary stated that objective of the meeting was to review the updated guideline to ensure that it is in tandem with set objectives, collectively review all information captured in the updated guideline for ownership, identify and fill gaps if any, finalise and validate the guideline for launch.

“It is worthy to recall that, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs in collaboration with CS-SUNN and other nutrition partners, developed a draft National Guideline on Women and Girls’ Empowerment for Optimal Nutrition. To enrich the document, several review meetings were held with Nutrition Stakeholders which was later circulated for further inputs and contributions and has been harmonized by the Consultants,” he said.

Aduda lauded the dedication of CS-SUNN and other partners in the nutrition space, recognizing their crucial role in achieving the outlined objectives.

“At this juncture, I will like to commend CS-SUNN and other Partners in the Nutrition space for their commitment and steadfastness in ensuring that we achieve our target,” he added.

On her part, the programme manager of CS-SUNN, Goodness Chidi, stated that empowerment has been identified by stakeholders as that one strategy that government and partners can implement to improve the nutritional status of women and Nigerians in general, hence the need for the development of the guideline.

Speaking in inclusivity of the guideline, Chidi noted that it is all inclusive as it seeks to address women access to public empowerment scheme, girl child education, amongst others