Kogi has emerged as the best-performing state in the World Bank-supported Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) project.
According to a statement by the state government, Kogi outshined 10 other states assessed for the project’s Community-Based Nutrition Service Delivery.
The state government received the certificate of achievement as ‘Best-Performing State: Community-Based Nutrition Service Delivery (NSA Performance +DLI)’ at the 6th ANRIN Implementation Support event, held in Abuja.
It said 11 states, comprising Kogi, Abia, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Plateau, and Katsina, were assessed.
Zakari Usman, Kogi’s state commissioner for health, said the implication of this feat on the health sector is that the nutrition indices of the women and children in the state will increase greatly.
“Illnesses will be reduced, which will cause increased GDP and functional population. There will also be reduced maternal and infant mortality among other positive results,” he said. “The state’s Gross Domestic Product will also increase with increase in functional population and reduction of maternal and infant mortality, among others.”
Usman added that the project had been actively carried out in Kogi for five years. “We were able to achieve the first position because of the commitment of Governor Yahaya Bello to the project and to the revitalisation of the health sector in general.”
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The ANRiN project is a priority health-care project, aimed at increasing the utilisation of quality, cost-effective nutrition services for pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls and children to reduce illnesses and enhance their overall wellbeing.
The drivers of the project, who are non-state actors recruited through the World Bank’s procurement processes, noted that participating states, through the provision of basic health needs, including deworming for children (12-59 months), IFA supplementation for pregnant women, malaria care for pregnant women, among others, would be able to reduce infant and maternal mortality drastically.
