– The minister of health, Isaac Adewole, has disclosed the amount of money the government has approved fight malnutrition in Nigeria

– The minister said the federal government had inaugurated a presidential task force for the northeast to address critical areas of need in the sub-region

– He warned the states benefiting from the project, not to convert the SOML-P4R funds into their various states budget for health but see it as an addition to what they may have budget for healthcare

Nigeria approves N4 billion to fight malnutrition in northeast – Profrssor Isaac Adewole The minister of health, Isaac Adewole, said that Nigeria has approved N4 billion to fight malnutrition in the northeast zone of Nigeria, Premium Times reports.

Speaking in Maiduguri, Borno State, on Thursday, October 20, the minister said the funds approved for this project will specifically be used for malnutrition in the northeast and other affected regions.

During a zonal roundtable for officials of states primary health care development agencies (PHCDA), he spoke on the flagging off of Saving One Million lives Program for Results (SOML-P4R).

The SOML-P4R is an initiative of the federal government, as part of its effort to improve maternal and child healthcare through a result-based partnership with states’ ministries of health.

The minister said the federal government had inaugurated a presidential task force for the northeast to address critical areas of need in the sub-region.

The force to be headed by the minister of budget and national planning, Udo Udoma, will focus on water, environment, health and nutrition.

“In six months, we want to restore sanity in these four sectors,” said the health minister.

“I want to tell you that each sector is chaired by a minister. “I chair the sub-committee on health and our budget has been approved for the northeast. That budget will entail spending of N4 billion on health and nutrition in the northeast, with emphasis on Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states,”he said.

He warned the states benefiting from the project, not to convert the SOML-P4R funds into their various states budget for health but see it as an addition to what they may have budget for healthcare.

“We are going to score each states on how much they have budgeted for health; and we should also be able to give them reward for that. Save One Million Lives is an addition and it should be seen as such.

“Unlike in the past, we would want to record what we have done with the money, how many lives have we save, how many cases of child mortality have we addressed and how much improvement do we put in governance, structures and processes in the health sector.

“If we discover that there is no performance, there will be no reward; and the reward is more money allocation,”he said. Recall that Nigeria’s minister of health says there is high risk of further spread of the recent polio outbreak to states surrounding Borno and neighbouring countries around the Lake Chad region.

Professor Adewole made the submission while giving a situation report on the recent outbreak to journalists and stakeholders yesterday, August 17 in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

According to him, the risk of further spread was due to population movement within and around the state. Created at 2016-10-21 03:33:38