The wife of Anambra State Governor, Dr Nonye Soludo, on Tuesday, launched the Nonye’s Healthy Living Pap to address the burden of child malnutrition in the state.
Soludo said during the launch in Awka that the idea was conceptualised when she received a delegation from UNICEF, which talked about tackling malnutrition among children in Anambra.
She said statistics showed that many children in the state were stunted, wasted, unhappy and underweight due to malnutrition. She said that her pet project, Healthy Living Initiative, took up the challenge to find a lasting solution to help children deal with acute or minor malnutrition in the state.
“According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2021), 23.8% of the infants in Anambra are exclusively breastfed which is low.
“The state has 45.6% of children meeting the minimum diet diversity standard, which is lower than the South East zonal average of 56.9%.
“We took up the challenge and today we are launching Nonye’s Healthy Living Pap, a natural formula, into the state’s mitigation programme for malnutrition to rescue our children with special nutritional needs.
“This complementary meal is free of charge due to heavy impact of food insecurity and socio-economic challenges on rural homes,” she said.
Soludo urged parents to prioritise the diet of their children to eradicate malnutrition and move the state from the second spot as the state with the lowest number of under five mortality to the first position.
In her presentation, Dr Chioma Mbachu, a Consultant Paediatrician at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, said nutrition had huge impact on the growth, development and health of a child.
Mbachu urged parents to avoid feeding their children with junk, sugary and processed foods to help them grow and develop optimally.
“A child’s diet should consist of vegetables, fruit, grains, dairy, and protein. Each food group has different nutrients that the child’s body needs to grow and work properly.
“This intervention by the governor’s wife will offer every child in Anambra the opportunity to grow healthy and beat the threats of malnutrition,” she stated.
In his remarks, Dr Afam Obidike, the state’s Commissioner for Health, said that the Nonye’s Healthy Living Pap was a rich solution to nutritional deficiencies in children. Obike added that the pap could support breast milk for children above the age of six months.
“We have created a seamless distribution pattern for this meal across the 21 local government areas and each LGA will have a known referral centre where this meal can be accessed.
“Each referral centre will develop a database with information about collection, monitoring and progress.
“Every child on the meal will be consistently monitored to ascertain their recovery progress,” he added.