UNICEF decry low intake of iron, folic acid supplement by pregnant women in Bauch

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By Samuel Luka, Bauchi

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has decried the low intake of iron and folic acid by pregnant women in Bauchi state.

Nutrition Specialist with the Fund, Philomena Irene, stated this on Tuesday while speaking at a 1-Day Inception meeting of Scale-Up of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) for Pregnant Women in Bauchi State.

According to her, the National Demographic Health Information Survey (NDHIS) 2018 showed that only 23 percent of the 381,364 pregnant women in Bauchi state receives iron and folic acid supplementation, which is crucial in reducing the risk of low birth weight, maternal anaemia, and iron deficiency.

She stated that, under the scale-up, Bauchi state has received 134, 280 bottles of MMS, adding that More will be supplied as the project implementation progresses.

Irene noted that the United Nations Children’s Fund will work with the Bauchi State Government to ensure that Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) is included in the annual state procurement Plan.

She said that the UNICEF will work towards ensuring that the funds are released through the Child Nutrition Fund for the procurement of MMS.

Irene said during the meeting organized by the Bauchi state government in collaboration with UNICEF and Alive and Thrive that the lifesaving initiative is generously funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and implemented by UNICEF in partnership with the Government of Nigeria and the Bauchi state government.

“We are here today to launch the scale up of multiple micronutrient supplement with the aim of improving pregnancy outcomes in Bauchi state”, she said.

According to Irene, the initiative is expected to strengthen the ante-natal platforms to deliver high impact maternal nutrition interventions in Bauchi state.

The Nutrition Specialist further explained that the initiative will also strengthen the capacity of health workers to effectively forecast and update MMS administration to pregnant women in Bauchi state on the Logistics Health Management Information system (LHIMS) and DHIS 2 platforms.

She added that the scale up of MMS for pregnant women aligns with the Nigerian government’s plan to reduce anemia among pregnant women to 40 per cent by 2025.

“It also feeds into the SDG 2030 goal of reducing anemia among pregnant women by 50 percent by 2030”, she said.

The Nutrition Specialist said on its part, UNICEF will continue to support Bauchi state government to mitigate the effects of anaemia in pregnancy and scale up MMS to all pregnant women.