Nigerian Red Cross Sets Up 140 Mothers Clubs to Tackle Hunger, Malnutrition in Communities
Category: Nigeria News
The Nigerian Red Cross Society has set up 140 Mothers Clubs in
North-Central and North-West Nigeria as part of the Nigeria Hunger Crisis Appeal. The clubs
are spread across three local governments each in Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara, Benue,
Nasarawa and Niger states.
3,500 mothers (Pregnant and Lactating Women) are being targeted in 140 Mothers
Clubs
(21,000 indirect beneficiaries) through an integrated
community-based campaign on Acute
malnutrition and promoting Infant and
Young Child Feeding (IYCF) for care givers and
lactating mothers in the
North-West and North-Central parts of the country through the
Hunger
Crisis Emergency Appeal in collaboration with the International Federation of
Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
The mothers are being trained on best health and nutritional practices that will help keep
infants and young children healthy and productive. Training is being provided by the Nigerian
Red Cross Society with support from the Federal Ministry of Health.
According to the Federal Ministry of Health report and a report, Cadre
Hamonize, Nigeria
has the second highest burden of stunted children in
the world, of an estimation of 2 million,
with a national prevalence rate
of 32 percent of these children being under five with seven
percent of
women of childbearing age suffering from acute malnutrition.
The report says, Seven percent of women of childbearing age also suffer from
acute
malnutrition, thus the campaign aims to empower mothers and care
givers with knowledge
on nutrition in local communities in 7 states
namely Benue, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto,
Nasarawa, Niger and Zamfara where
it is also estimated that about 19.4 million people will
be facing acute
hunger between June and August 2022.
hunger breeds malnutrition and this requires immediate action particularly for pregnant,
lactating mothers and vulnerable children. A good number of them are now in a situation
where they eat what they can get instead of choosing diets that will make them and their
children healthy and this is something that concerns us greatly.” “Kende further said, “we are
grateful to our funding partners; The American Red Cross, British Red Cross, Canadian Red
Cross, Japanese Red Cross, and Netherlands Red Cross who have gone ahead to provide
much needed resources to allow us to reach the most vulnerable people in these 7 states,
however more support is still required as the funding gap is still huge vis a vie the needs.”
Currently through the Hunger Crisis Appeal 700 Pregnant and Lactating women (PLWs)
received a second round of supplementary conditional cash grants to boost their nutritional
status and that of the babies they carry or infants that they are nursing to add to the 5000
HHs which received multipurpose cash grants to fight Hunger across 7 states.
Dr. Manir Jega, Coordinator, Health, and Care, NRCS says, the activity will,
through the
formation of mother’s clubs share information on nutrition,
identify and refer malnourished
children and lactating mothers to the
nearest health facility after being measured with the
Mid Upper Arm
Circumference, MUAC tape.
“We know that if mothers and care givers have better information, it will lead
to healthier
children and a better society, we have set up 140 Mothers
Club in the 7 states. We are
working closely with Federal Ministry of
Health on this.”
One of the leading causes of malnutrition in Nigeria is poor dietary knowledge
adding that
the network of Red Cross volunteers would help educate
lactating mothers and care givers
on how to combine available foods to
reduce malnutrition and improve the production of
breast milk for infants
during the weekly mother’s club meetings. This is expected to go a
long
way in reducing malnutrition, prevent child mortality, morbidity and promote a
healthy
diet, Dr. Jega noted.
According to Benson Agbro, Coordinator Disaster Management, the spate of
farmer herder
conflicts and banditry in the country is another leading
cause of malnutrition. “When people
cannot access markets to buy food, or
they cannot access their fields to grow the required
dietary foods, they
will eat whatever food they see is available to them in order to just fill
their
stomachs and live to fight another day without minding the
nutritional value”.
The Nigerian Red Cross with support from the International Federation of Red
Cross and
Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is working to reduce acute hunger
in Nigeria and improve the
nutrition and livelihoods of 51,000
beneficiaries in North-West and North-Central Nigeria.
The impacted
communities are experiencing acute hunger because of climate change,
COVID
19 and insecurity which prevents many of them from accessing their farmland
and in
some cases has forced them to flee their homes.
For
more information, or to arrange interviews with Nigerian Red Cross Society,
please
contact:
In Abuja| Chima Nwankwo |+2348023597255| chima.nwankwo@redcrossnigeria.org
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