The Wife of Ebonyi Governor, Mrs Mary-Maudline Nwifuru, has called on stakeholders to join hands in the fight against the menace of malnutrition affecting the society.
Nwifuru made the call on Thursday, during the 2023 Ebonyi Hidden Hunger Conference, organised by the state government in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The conference was also held in conjunction with the Alex Ekuweme Federal University, Ndufu Alike IKwo (AE-FUNAI) and the World Health Organisation among other development partners in Abakaliki.
Hidden Hunger is a term for malnutrition which occurs in children and adults as a result of poor quality food.he wife of the governor said that her office was determined to partner relevant stakeholders to reduce the condition to bearable minimum.
She charged community leaders and other stakeholders to identify all malnourished patients in their domains for immediate treatment.
She also called on the general public to earnestly address nutrition imbalance.
She announced that government has established malnutritional referral centre at the National Obstetric Fistulas Centre (NOFIC), Abakaliki.
She, however, inaugurated a stabilisation centre for the management of severe acute malnutrition and expressed satisfaction that the centre would help her office achieve vision of bringing malnutrition to a zero level.
In their separate remarks, Mrs Chinwe Okah, the state Commissioner for Budget Planning, Research and Monitoring, and her Health counterpart, Dr Moses Ekuma, lamented the high rate of malnutrition in the state.
Hadza Macans, on behalf of development partners, and Vice-Chancellor of FUNAI, Prof Sunday Elom, represented by Prof Chukwunonso Ejike, and other stakeholders suggested adequate enlightenment and collaboration as possible approach to reduce the condition in the society.
They assured that the state government had put mechanisms in place to address the menace.
The Chief Medical Director of NOFIC, Prof Johnson Obuna, said that the centre was ready to partners Mrs Nwifuru and other stakeholders to tackle malnutrition.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event featured presentation of “Golden Ambassador of Nutrition” award to Mrs Nwifuru
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