The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says it is committed to addressing the health challenges of children, especially malnutrition in Nigeria to improve on their health status.
Dr. Zakari Adam, the Chief Field Officer, UNICEF, Kaduna State, gave the assurance on Thursday in Akwanga in Nasarawa State during the six-day capacity building for 32 participants on Community Infant and Young Child Feeding Counseling package.
The six-day training was sponsored by UNICEF, in collaboration with Nasarawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency in which participants were selected from the Agency.
He said that the training was aimed at equipping nutritional health personnel with skills for effective healthcare service delivery.
According to him, as UNICEF, we are really committed from our headquarters in New York to the field offices, regional office and the Nigeria country office based in Abuja.
“Where we all committed to ensuring that adequate support is provided to the government of Nigeria through its various chains, including Local Government levels to ensuring that our children access good nutrition.
“It is not that we are necessarily lacking access to food, sometimes it is just that we are not aware on how to combine or go about this food to ensure good nutrition of our children.
“You are aware that the core mandate of UNICEF is focusing on children, all issues relating to children are pertinent to UNICEF. We have intervened in various areas but most importantly worldwide, we develop knowledge about children, especially the nutritional needs of children,“ he said.
Adam also said that UNICEF was committed to addressing the challenges facing women and children in Nigeria in order to improve on their health status.
UNICEF, he said, was supporting this programme in terms of fund and technical aspect.
“We are supporting the government of Nigeria in all relevant areas that will help in growing and developing children,” Adam said.
Adam expressed happiness with the commitment of health workers of the area toward tackling the challenges among malnourished children and urged them to sustain the tempo.
Adam restated the commitment of the organisation to continuing to train and retain health workers and other volunteers of its programmes to improve on the health status of the children and Nigerians.
MM/GIK/APA