By Stanley Onyekwere
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has commenced coordinated campaign to combat maternal and child malnutrition across the capital, locking in strategic partnerships with international donors and local health stakeholders.
Speaking on Wednesday, at the inception meeting for the US Department of State-UNICEF Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Umbrella Grant Project in Abuja, the Mandate Secretary of the FCT Health and Environment Services Secretariat, Dr. Adedolapo Fasawe, reaffirmed the FCTA’s dedication to scaling up evidence-based interventions
Fasawe explained that the multi-state project, which operates on a compressed timeline, targets a child’s first 1,000 days of life by focusing heavily on pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children under two years of age.
Aligning with this high-level campaign, the Executive Secretary of the FCT Primary Healthcare Development Board, Dr. Dan Gadzama, emphasized that tackling the territory’s nutrition crisis requires absolute transparency and multi-sectoral synergy.
Dr. Gadzama noted that civil society organizations have a vital role in advocating for the vulnerable and ensuring that additional resources are released for nutrition activities.
He emphasized that these organizations must actively hold public officers entrusted with such resources accountable.
“Let’s synergize our efforts, let’s work together, and we will reach our common goals as FCT now,” Dr. Gadzama urged, calling on all stakeholders to work as a unified team.
He highlighted the media’s crucial responsibility in raising awareness and enlightening the public on nutrition, while also acknowledging the essential operational backing of professional associations and grassroots leaders.
Dr. Gadzama described grassroots communities as both the direct beneficiaries and indispensable key partners without whom these critical health interventions cannot be successfully implemented.
He noted that with UNICEF’s unwavering support, the FCT’s nutritional interventions are well-covered, promising that the administration would not take this partnership for granted but would ensure optimal implementation to achieve excellent outcomes.
To expand the reach of these interventions, local authorities are moving aggressively to overhaul community health systems.
To this end, the Vice Chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Honourable Yusuf Nadabo Mohammed, highlighted that investing in nutrition during this early window is the most cost-effective way to preserve cognitive development and child survival.
Acknowledging Abuja’s rapid daily expansion, Mohammed pledged AMAC’s commitment to multiplying and strengthening Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) through targeted partnerships with the international community, ensuring that primary healthcare services directly penetrate remote and growing settlements.
To systematically reverse poor feeding habits—such as the territory’s low 29.1% exclusive breastfeeding rate—UNICEF’s Nutrition Manager, Sumit Karn, announced plans to establish designated “Centers of Excellence” at tertiary-level hospitals.
He revealed that these centers will train midwives and pediatric staff to integrate quality maternal and newborn care from prenatal visits through delivery.
This framework, according to him, will strictly implement the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative’s (BFHI) 10 steps to successful breastfeeding.
Beyond hospital walls, the intervention framework incorporates non-health sectors to build a supportive governance environment and unlock vital domestic financing.
On his part, Michael Daniel Eveshoyan, Program Manager for Helen Keller International, revealed that the organization is actively supporting the territory’s nutritional mandates, having recently helped achieve an 81% coverage milestone by administering vitamin A supplements to over 1.2 million children across the six area councils.
Similarly, the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria (APHPN), led by FCT President Dr. Terfa Kene, pledged full operational and research backing to the current Executive Secretary, ensuring robust expert oversight during the project’s roll-out.
Furthermore, in her presentation, the FCT State Nutrition Officer, Chinyere Christiana Ekweme, disclosed that the FCT faces significant public health challenges driven by a highly mobile population, now estimated at 8.3 million people across its six area councils: Abaji, Abuja Municipal, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, and Kwali.
She added while the FCT records lower stunting and underweight rates than other parts of the North Central zone, it grapples with a high wasting burden that underscores an urgent need for acute malnutrition prevention and early treatment.
According to her, currently data reveals that 51% of women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years) and nearly half of all children aged 6 to 59 months are anemic, to sustainably combat this, health authorities are prioritizing community-led food demonstrations on utilizing local, iron-rich agriculture over a reliance on expensive, imported Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) that require lengthy quality checks.
She noted that to improve maternal and child health outcomes, the FCT administration is aligning with the federal government’s transition toward utilizing Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) containing 15 essential micronutrients for pregnant women.
She concluded that oving forward, reversing these trends will require multisectoral collaboration spanning agriculture, education, WASH, and gender empowerment to dismantle the socio-economic drivers of malnutrition.
