The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, is partnering with the US-based organisation Operation End Starvation to intensify efforts against hunger and child malnutrition.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, announced the collaboration when he led a delegation from the organisation and ministry agencies to meet First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
Pate highlighted Nigeria’s ongoing work to reduce its estimated 6.4 million cases of acute child malnutrition while supporting the health of pregnant women and lactating mothers. He pointed to existing government programmes, including the National Community Food Bank Programme rolled out in partnership with the Office of the First Lady, which is already delivering results across the country’s six geopolitical zones.
“A lot of good things are already happening in the country,” he said.Operation End Starvation CEO Williams Holdsworth Moore explained that the initiative, backed by a major grant from the US government and global philanthropists, aims to mobilise more than $1 billion annually to prevent child deaths linked to starvation. The goal is to direct $1 billion over the next two years across sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria designated a priority country.
“The foundation is impressed by Nigeria’s focus on combating acute malnutrition, and we are seeking partnership for this global ‘Operation End Starvation’ programme,” Moore said.
“We want to move one billion dollars to end starvation in the next two years across sub-Saharan Africa. The burden is high, but the capacity is also very high.” He noted that the US State Department had approved Nigeria’s inclusion and praised the Nigerian health team’s competence.
First Lady Oluremi Tinubu welcomed the partnership, praising the expertise and commitment of Nigeria’s health professionals under Pate’s leadership. She expressed confidence that any support received would be put to effective use and stressed that Nigeria is undergoing necessary reforms under President Bola Tinubu.
Operation End Starvation, an initiative of the Eleanor Crook Foundation, is a public-private partnership focused on ending child malnutrition and starvation-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. It plans to prioritise Nigeria over the next two years to demonstrate the impact of large-scale, direct government collaboration.
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