By Cosmas Omegoh
The need to combat the imminent “nutritional crisis” looming over the country has been emphasised.
The Country Director, Vitamin Angels, Dr Francis Ohanyido, drew the attention a one- day programme, Coordination Meeting on Maternal Child Nutrition and Quality Antenatal Nutritional Care (ANC) services held in Ibadan, in conjunction with the Jos-based Christian Health Association of Nigeria (CHAN).
The Vitamin Angel’s Country Director stated that the worst affected by the latent nutritional crises which is an off-shook of the “hidden hunger” in the land due to poverty, were women and children adding that the worst hit were pregnant women.
Health, he noted, must be seen as a priority in our scale of preference on national issues. He stated that addressing the nation’s nutritional crises successfully among the critical segment of women and children in the country would yield good dividends. To him, government at all levels needs to wake up in this regard.
He advised that government should be intentional on how to integrate good nutritional practices for the benefits of the women before and during antenatal services.
His organization, Vitamin Angel, he said was committed to ensuring that women and children get this desired attention. According to him, “What Vitamin Angel is doing in Nigeria is catalytic. It is to open our eyes as a country to do the right thing in this area of public health.”
Dr Ohanyido said that it was necessary to point out that “health is everything and nutrition is at the heart of health.”
He gave the example of the Covid-19 pandemic which took the world by surprise, adding that it was an eye opener for nations to take health issues seriously.
According to Dr Ohanyido, Health is an electoral issue and we should not deceive ourselves that it is not. We must get our politics right. Enough of accidental leadership.
Vitamin Angel he says, is playing its role for better nutrition in the country by supplying relevant drugs through CHAN Members Institutions among other to help raise healthy young children for the future..
In his opening remarks at the meeting, the Secretary General of CHAN, Micheal Idah, who was represented by the Director of Advocacy, Mr David Omoanebokhae comended Vitamin Angels for the steady supply of Micronutrient Vitamins for pregnant women and Abendenazole for deworming of children. He said that in the last one year, for instance over 1.2 million people consisting of women and children mainly have been reached through 48 hospitals across Nigeria. CHAN, he said, values the partnership with Vitamin Angels and appealed for the body to do more by making available their reliable, essential and vital drugs so that CHAN can empower more health Institutions and Individuals.
