The Federal Government is partnering with a United States-based organisation, Operation End Starvation, to mobilise more than one billion dollars to tackle child malnutrition and prevent starvation-related deaths across sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria identified as a priority country.
The partnership was announced when the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, led a delegation of the organisation and other ministry agencies to meet with the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, to discuss areas of collaboration.
According to a statement by Busola Kukoyi, Senior Special Assistant on Media to the First Lady, the initiative seeks to strengthen Nigeria’s ongoing efforts to address hunger and malnutrition through government partnerships. Operation End Starvation, an initiative of the Eleanor Crook Foundation, brings together public and private sector partners to prevent child malnutrition and deaths linked to starvation.
The organisation’s Chief Executive Officer, Williams Moore, said the programme would channel more than one billion dollars towards preventing starvation-related child deaths over the next two years. He added that the initiative, supported by a United States government grant and contributions from international philanthropists, had received approval for Nigeria’s inclusion.
Pate said the partnership would complement existing government interventions, including the National Community Food Bank Programme, implemented in collaboration with the Office of the First Lady to improve food access across the country’s six geopolitical zones.
Mrs Tinubu welcomed the initiative, expressing confidence in the capacity of Nigeria’s health team to ensure that any support received would be effectively utilised. She said President Bola Tinubu’s administration was committed to improving public services and making better use of available resources, adding that the partnership could strengthen efforts to address hunger and child malnutrition.
