As part of efforts to tackle malnutrition at the grassroots level, Lagos State government with support from the Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has inaugurated the Local Government Committee on Food and Nutrition (LGCFN) to solve the problem.
The permanent secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, at the formal inauguration of the committee in Lagos, said, nutrition is the basic foundation of life and it is a fundamental human right.
Ogboye, who was represented by the Lagos State nutrition officer, Mrs Braheem Olubunmi, said it is sad to note that Lagos is yet to attain the goal of ensuring that all babies born in the state are well breast fed.
Citing an example, the permanent secretary disclosed that the percentage of women who initiate breastfeeding once they give birth is retrogressing, adding that, “Initially we were at 25 per cent, as at 2017, but the latest Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS6) showed that we are at 14.1 per cent.
“On exclusive breastfeeding, though Lagos has given six months leave to mothers who just gave birth, we are yet to see the impact of that as the latest statistics showed that we are at 57.4 per cent on exclusive breastfeeding.
Meanwhile, several studies have shown that brain development stops at two years. If the children are not well breastfed, they will be stunted. We are beginning to see that in the state 17.2 per cent of under five children are stunted. These are children who will be leaders of tomorrow. We need to act now to reverse the trend in the state.“
