The Cross River State Primary Health Care Development Agency (CRSPHCDA), in collaboration with development partners and government stakeholders, has commenced a five-day strategic workshop aimed at strengthening nutrition outcomes across Cross River State.
The technical session, which took place in Calabar, focused on domesticating national nutrition and Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) strategies to reflect the state’s unique socio-cultural realities.
Speaking at the opening ceremony held at Dannic Hotels, the Director General of CRSPHCDA, Vivien Mesembe Otu, emphasized the importance of translating national policies into practical solutions that address local needs.
According to her, the initiative is designed to move beyond generic frameworks by developing context-specific interventions that can effectively tackle malnutrition and improve public health outcomes in the state.
“Our goal is to translate national policy into practical, locally adaptable interventions,” she said. “By refining these strategies, we are building a roadmap that enables frontline health workers and development partners to operate in a unified and measurable direction toward eliminating malnutrition.”
The workshop, supported by UNICEF and the Cross River State Ministry of Health, is structured around three major pillars: domestication, validation, and the development of a unified roadmap for implementation.
Under the domestication pillar, stakeholders will work to align national policies with the traditions, realities, and health needs of communities across the state. The validation process will ensure that all proposed interventions are practical, measurable, and capable of delivering tangible results. Meanwhile, the unified roadmap will serve as a guiding document for all partners involved in nutrition and public health interventions.
Participants at the workshop include government officials, nutrition experts, development partners, and frontline health workers who are expected to collectively design strategies for improving nutrition outcomes.
At the end of the five-day session, stakeholders are expected to produce a coordinated action plan that will serve as a blueprint for nutrition and health interventions across all 18 local government areas of Cross River State.
