As part of efforts to tackle acute malnutrition (SAM), especially in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the International Society of Media in Public Health (ISMPH) has empowered 60 poor and vulnerable women.
The project, which is being implemented in two local government areas namely Bwari and Kwali, will ensure that the challenge of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in the FCT is amplified in order to attract the government’s attention and resources.
While addressing reporters in Abuja, the Executive Director of ISMPH, Mrs Moji Makanjuola, stated that the project, which began in November, also aimed at setting an agenda for sustainable empowerment of rural women, and to amplify its intervention and best practices such as recycling and social inclusion.
“In the past three or four years, we have been combing between seven and nine states, and the number of children that are severely malnourished is shocking. This is against the backdrop that we are not a country at war.
“In most cases, the mothers are helpless and hopeless about what they can administer to help their emaciating children. In some of these states, the husbands are not helping the situation; they see these children as commodities, hence they have two or more wives. Their thinking is that if a child dies, the wives will produce another.
“Many of the women complain of being poor. The question now is: what can we do to bring them out of poverty so that they can provide for their children? Many of the children become severely malnourished after their mothers wean them. After weaning, many of the women do not know the complementary feeding that should come.
“There is an urgent need to change the narrative. Journalists, therefore, have a responsibility to tell these stories to change the narrative. I believe that the media in Nigeria can change the position of health care delivery service,” she said.
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