MINISTER of State in the President's Office (Regional Administration and Local Governments) Suleiman Jafo has directed regional commissioners (RCs) to introduce strategies, which will fast track the implementation of the national plan for nutritional supplements.
Addressing regional commissioners and regional administrative secretaries at a meeting yesterday, he said only Kilimanjaro out of 26 regions had attained 50 per cent of the target.
"This meeting should assess the implementation of thenational plan and come up with strategies to fast track it," he said, while opening the meeting convened to assess the implementation of the national plan for nutritional supplements.
He pointed out that district commissioners and district executive directors (DED) should be involved in the national plan for nutritional supplements to expedite its implementation.
Mr Jafo said only Shinyanga and Mtwara region had convened meetings for regional committees on nutritional supplements to assess the state of nutrition intheir respective areas, saying the government had set aside 11bn/- for the programme. He directed regional commissioners to enter into agreements with district commissioners in their respective areas for nutrition to be prioritised in planning activities.
Mr Jafo noted that the government planned to recruit at least 120 nutrition experts to close the gap for a shortage of staff responsible for nutrition in municipal and district councils, saying the shortage of nutrition experts remained a big challenge in the implementation of the national plan for nutritional supplements.
