The Minister of State for Health, Ekumankama Joseph, on Thursday enjoined all stakeholders to support the government in strengthening and delivering quality nutrition data at the national and subnational levels.
He made the call in Abuja during this year’s National Nutrition and Data Results Conference (NNDRC) organised by CS-SUNN in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
He said quality nutrition data at the national and subnational levels are fundamental for designing good programs that address nutritional health burdens and track progress on implementation towards achieving the nutrition targets of the National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition (NMPFAN, 2021-2025) and the 2030 Sustainable Development goals.
He assured that recommendations from the conference would be used to advance the health management information system for a well-coordinated nutrition data framework and strong collaboration with other line ministries.
Prof. Wasiu Afolabi, President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, advocated increased investment in nutrition, saying with adequate nutrition data, programmes can be properly targeted for both funding and beneficiaries.
Dr Francis Aminu, Director, Health and Nutrition, Aliko Dangote Foundation, said data needs to be gathered, analysed, managed and used along the nutrition value chain.
