The Kogi State Government has commended the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare for introducing Nutrition into the Nigeria Health Commodities Logistics Management Information System (NHLMIS).
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adams Abdulazeez Adeiza, gave the commendation during a two-day training workshop on Nutrition Commodities Logistics Onboarding into NHLMIS in Lokoja.
The workshop was organised by the Federal Ministry of Health, Kogi State Ministry of Health (SMoH) and State Primary Health Care Development Agency (KSPHCDA) with support from Nutrition International.
The Commissioner, who was represented by the Director, Nutrition, State Ministry of Health (SMoH), Mr Bolarinwa Ogundusi, said the inclusion of nutrition into NHLMIS would further ensure validity and quality of nutrition commodities across the country.
The commissioner also expressed appreciation to Nutrition International for supporting the programme financially.
He stressed that nutrition remains the cornerstone of good health and development particularly in children.
The commissioner added that nutrition did not just prevent illness, but also fostering growth, learning and energetic childhood.
Earlier, in her opening remarks, the Director of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Mrs Bako Ayegbusi, said that the logistics management system was very critical in maintaining healthy living.
She emphasised the need to onboard nutrition commodities for visibility along the supply chain.
Ayegbusi, who was represented by Miss Patience Oguche, explained that the new initiative would ensure availability of quality commodities, reduce expiries and increase access to commodities to the last mile in Nigeria and Kogi State in particular.
On his part, the State Nutrition Officer, Mall. Usman Abdulazeez, said the training was aimed to raise a pool of nutrition logistics managers for efficient and effective logistics management across the state.
This, he said that the similar training had been conducted two years ago by the Save the Children International working for ANRIN in two out of the three senatorial districts.
Usman stressed that better nutrition improve infant, child and maternal health, safer motherhood and childbirth, lower risk of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension as well as longevity.
He disclosed that 30 participants, drawn from the SMoH, KSPHCDA, Local Government Areas and other relevant agencies, took part in the training exercise.
