12th April, 2017
Photo: Remi Osobu-Asubiojo
A Nutrition Officer in Gombe State, Malam Suleiman Mamman, on Wednesday said 1,221 malnourished children received complete treatment from January to March in the state.
Mamman told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe that the 1,221 malnourished children were among the 2880 that came for treatment during the period.
According to him, some of the patients that came for treatment abandoned it midway, while 27 others died.
He said that 53, who did not recover, tested HIV positive and were referred to the state specialist hospital for treatment.
Mamman said that the number of those treated was low and not encouraging because of the high rate of those that abandoned treatment.
He called on the populace to reciprocate the gesture of the state government, UNICEF and the development partners, in ensuring adequate care of the malnourished children.
Mamman said that UNICEF, in collaboration with the state government, was working in Gombe, Dukku and Nafada Local Government Areas of the state.
READ: Woman on 13-pound baby: ‘I’m still finding it hard to believe’
“I implore the general public to reciprocate the government’s gesture by allowing their malnourished children to be treated for eight weeks.
“The treatment is free and government is paying the counterpart funding, while UNICEF provides the plumpy nuts,’’ he said.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, defines Plumpy ‘Nut as “a peanut-based paste in a plastic wrapper for treatment of severe acute malnutrition.’’
Mamman said that the state government was working toward scaling up the programme in all the 11 local government areas of the state.