The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has engaged stakeholders in Jigawa State on curbing the illegal diversion and sale of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), a nutritional product meant to treat severe acute malnutrition in children.
Speaking during the engagement in Dutse, the State Director of the agency, Ahmad Tijjani, said there was a need to ensure that the therapeutic food reached severely malnourished children instead of being sold in local markets.
Tijjani said the forum was organised in collaboration with UNICEF and the Jigawa Primary Healthcare Development Agency.
He explained that the engagement with community leaders, health officials and other stakeholders was aimed at increasing vigilance to ensure the product reached the children who needed it most.
“The engagement with community leaders, health officials and local stakeholders aims to increase vigilance and ensure that RUTF reaches the malnourished children who need it most, rather than being sold for profit,” he said.
Tijjani noted that each malnourished child requires a carton of RUTF to survive, warning that diversion of the product could have fatal consequences.
“It has been estimated that each malnourished child needs a carton of RUTF to survive, and if one carton is diverted, we have the tendency of losing a life,” he said.
He added that a rapid survey conducted in states under the UNICEF Kano Field Office—Kano State, Katsina State and Jigawa—identified poverty as one of the major reasons some parents sold the therapeutic food meant for their children.
In his remarks, the Deputy State Health Educator, Nura Ado, warned adults against consuming the product, noting that it could lead to obesity and increase the risk of high blood pressure.