Nutrition focal persons in the local government areas have been charged to be more committed to their job to enhance the health status of the rural masses. The Chairman of the State Committee on Food and Nutrition, Dr. Lucy Ebuh, gave the charge in Uyo at a one-day meeting organized by the committee for nutrition focal persons in the local government areas.

Dr. Ebuh said the meeting was to elicit the level of performance by the nutrition focal persons with regards to nutrition information dissemination as well as brain-storm on ways to tackle the challenges faced by them in their communities of service. She appealed to them to shun any impediment capable of distracting them from educating the people on the importance of consuming diverse foods with the required nutrients for their proper growth and well-being.

In her contribution, the Secretary of the State Committee on Food and Nutrition, Mrs. Uduak Okon, cautioned the nutrition focal persons against mortgaging their role of counselling the women on the need for embarking on exclusive breast-feeding of their babies as this will boost their babies’ health and give mothers less challenges. She also stressed the need for nutrition focal persons to educate the women on adequate complimentary feeding, growth monitoring and promotion as well as administration of Vitamin A to children from age six to nine months even as they should be careful in data collection so as not to misrepresent facts.

Answering questions on challenges faced by nutrition focal persons, Mr. Ukpong J. Ukpong, from Ika Local Government Area, listed the non-inclusion of nutrition focal persons in the provision of assistance such as imprest and means of local transportation as factors militating against their work and called for a review of the situation.