Leading Nutrition body, The Nutrition Society of Nigeria, has lauded the ongoing Blue Band National Growth Challenge, describing it as ‘a laudable feat in combating malnutrition in children.’ The National Growth Challenge sponsored by Blue Band, number one margarine brand in Nigeria, in a bid to encourage proper growth among children through optimal nutrition, is a three-month campaign designed to educate mothers, scholars and custodians, on the significance of providing a nutritional, healthy and balanced diet meal to ensure proper growth in growing children, while also demonstrating results by targeting 100,000 children to grow by 1000 metres during the period.
The body, speaking
through its President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Professor Ngozi Nnam,
Represented by Dr. Abimbola Ajayi, Lagos State Nutrition Officer, during a
press conference organized to announce the Blue Band sponsored National Growth
Challenge, said because growth stunting occurs early in life and is accompanied
by functional impairments and the consequences of early malnutrition persist
later in life, the National Growth Challenge provides a platform to address the
issue while also educating parents and caregivers on the need to feed young
children with the right foods with the right nutrients.
“During school age
years, children experience tremendous cognitive, emotional, social growth and
development. Proper nutrition is therefore one of the most important factors
that influences these children’s well-being at pre-school and school age years.
A varied, adequate diet-containing vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates,
and some fat are crucial in promoting
growth, energy utilization and overall health,” Nnam said.
During her Goodwill
message Enugu State Nutrition Officer, Mrs. Henrietta Ugwu said that the call
for proper nutrition is the responsibility of everyone – parents, family,
schools, communities and government – to ensure adequate and appropriate
nutritional practices for all age groups particularly the school age child.
Ugwu stated, “We are
happy that organisations such as Unilever, through the Blue Band brand, have
seen the need to restate proper nutrition in children. This is a gap that
existed for a long time and this is a clarion call that healthy eating makes
healthy people. We are sure that everyone will benefit from this and use it in
their respective homes.”
Vivian Ihaza, Tea and Spreads Category Manager, Unilever
Nigeria, said that with essential nutrients in Blue Band such as the Vitamins
A, D, E, the B vitamins, niacin, and folic acid, it is the right addition to
children’s diet that contributes to their growth.
Ihaza during her
speech said, “The National Growth Challenge will be carried out across 400
government and private primary schools in Lagos and Enugu states, and will be
targeted at children 6 years and above. Key activities taking place in schools
will include nutrition education programmes, taking height measurements and
assessing cumulative growth in the children.
“There will also be an
Arts competition during this period to engage the kids and bring out their
creativity through drawing or painting on the nutrition and growth theme with
the top three Schools and the students whose painting or drawing represented
their schools would win fantastic prizes,” she said.
The National Growth
Challenge, done in partnership with the Children of Africa organization and in
collaboration with the State Primary Education Boards, Ministries of Health and
the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, is the first of its kind in Nigeria and has
being carried out in other African countries such as Ghana and Kenya.
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