UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday pledged its support to the Sokoto State Government in tackling the challenges of malnutrition, poor hygiene and school enrollment.

The UNICEF Chief Field Officer in Sokoto, Mr Mohammad Muhidden, made the pledge at the end of a three-day advocacy and community engagement workshop in Sokoto.

Muhidden said that the workshop was aimed at generating ideas on how best to engage local communities to participate in education, health, water, sanitation and nutrition-related issues.

He said that UNICEF was highly committed to improving peoples’ living standard, as such, its projects would positively impact on the lives of not only benefiting communities but the entire state.

“UNICEF aims at improving people’s living standards by facilitating access to community water supply, preventing open defecation, handwashing campaigns and other environmental protection systems which are prelude to good health.

“Children and mothers’ health are also targeted through Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) programme, in addition to facilitating child immunisations, antenatal care, safe child delivery and other health programmes.

“Increase in child enrollment to modern schools is also part of the interventions in Sokoto.

“Also, efforts to facilitate integrated model Qur’anic with modern education system of teaching is fully on course,” Muhidden said.

In his remarks, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Balarabe Kakale, said that mothers were encouraged to exclusively breastfeed their babies and the need for local preparation of children nutrients.

Kakale said the programme was to complement UNICEF’s support on malnutrition supplements, adding that the food items were readily available in the communities.

He challenged families to live up to their responsibilities by providing nutritious food for their children.

Also, the state Commissioner for Water Resources, Alhaji Arzika Tureta, said that the state government had redeemed all its pledges of counterpart funding in the state.

Tureta said the community members were mobilised to take care of the health, water and school facilities to ensure projects sustainability through community involvement.

He commended Gov. Aminu Tambuwal for his support toward ensuring the success of the programmes.

According to him, the governor readily released funds for execution of the joint UNICEF/State Government programmes.

Earlier, the state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Alhaji Jabbi Kilgore, said that 4,000 Qur’anic schools were targeted to be incorporated into the integrated school systems designed by the state government.

He said enrollments into primary and Qur’anic integrated schools would be enhanced and that scheme to employ teachers within community of the host schools would be designed.

(NAN)