Children Investment Fund Foundation has called on Journalists and other media practitioners in Nigeria to dig deep into anomalies truncating the treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition, SAM, among under-five children.
Mrs. Moji Makanjoula, Executive Director, International Society for Media in Public Health made the call during a virtual media parley on nutrition organised for media practitioners in Nigeria.
Mrs. Moji said media professionals, through investigative reportage on malnutrition in Nigeria can help ensure successful defeat to stunting and weight loss among children in Nigeria.
“Investigative reporting will be the basis for eradicating malnutrition in Nigeria because it will help to uncover misappropriation of donor funds for procurement of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food, RUTF.”
She said the media has a role to play in ensuring proper and justified application of funding and budgets which ought to be streamlined for treatment of malnutrition in Nigeria.
She said the rising rates of malnutrition and fatalities from its scourge in the country was alarming.
“This will also help to hold the government accountable and scale up malnutrition treatment,” Mrs Moji said.
She said media reportage can go a long way in devising innovative funding to provide a cure for malnourished Nigerian children thereby reducing over dependence on donor funding as is the situation at the moment.
Professor Bayo Fayoyi in his keynote address, said media can help promote public or social policy initiatives through stimulating debate, dialogue and diagnosis of the problem or ‘even controversy around the issue.’
“Strategic use of the news media can help in influencing public opinion, mobilize community activists, and influence decision makers to create a change in policy,” Professor Bayo said.
Mr. Zakaria Fusheini, UNICEF’s representatives opined that the organization offers holistic support to Nigeria in fighting malnutrition from procurement of RUTF to its distribution to states’ SAM centers throughout the federation.
Mr. Zakaria said UNICEF, being a global body with keen interest in children has been behind the fight against severe acute malnutrition through funding, training of healthcare personnel and promoting local production of RUTF.
Dr. Mairo Mandara in her goodwill message said that Nigeria’s future is shaky given the rising number of malnourished children in the country.
She maintained that “these children are the leaders of generations unborn and represented the greatest asset of the country as the global economy has now shifted from being a money driven economy to human capital-based economy.”
