The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has disclosed that about 1.3 million children die before attaining the age of five for preventable diseases in Nigeria. The United Nations agency also estimated additionally loss of 100 newborn daily and 150 die within seven days of birth in Nigeria.
According to UNICEF, the country ranked top in Africa and third position globally, next to India and Pakistan on preventable deaths of children alone.
Chief of Health, UNICEF Nigeria, Dr. Sanjana Bhardwaj, during a one-day technical consultative meeting on ending preventable deaths of children in Bauchi State, stated that he is worried over health indicators in Nigeria.
The technical retreat, organised by UNICEF in collaboration with Bauchi State government was essentially aimed to review UNICEF findings on causes and solution to ending preventable deaths of children in Bauchi State.
He hinted that Nigeria is one of the countries globally where children lives are at stake due to lack of basic reproductive health packages including poor Routine Immunization (RI), dysfunctional primary health care and other mechanism to preventable child mortality.
Bhardwaj who stated that Bauchi contributed large proportion to national burden child mortality occasions from preventable deaths, said the state has 33 per cent of newborn death and 26 per cent of under five children mortality in Nigeria.
