By Aliyu Dangida

DUTSE—Worried by statistics, which revealed that it had the highest number of malnourished children, Jigawa State government has approved N280 million to fight the menace.

Chairman, House Committee on Health in the state House of Assembly, Mr. Lawan Garba, who made the revelation in Dutse, said N30 million was initially voted in the 2016 appropriation for the malnourished children in the state.

He added that later, Governor Badaru Abubakar further released additional N250 million to complement the proposed amount contained in the 2016 budget.
Recent statistics made available by the United Nations Children Funds, UNICEF, revealed that 600,000 children below the age of five, representing 50 percent of the total number of children in the state, were malnourished.

Health reforms
Garba explained that government had since commenced reforms in the health sector to enhance the health conditions of its citizenry.
He added that “nutrition coordination and planning mechanism have been put in place as intervention measures to curb malnutrition and save the lives of the affected children.”

The government, according to him, has selected three designated centres in Gagarawa, Buji and Kirikasamma Local Govern-ment areas of the state, apart from the existing 15 selected by UNICEF, for the treatment of malnourished children.