The United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said Kaduna State has the highest number of malnourished children with over 1.6 million children.
UNICEF’s Nutrition Specialist, Dr Florence Oni, revealed this while presenting nutrition intervention score card in the last six months in the state during a two-day 2016 mid-year review meeting in Kaduna. These children, according to her, are suffering from one form of malnutrition or the other which is responsible for the death of 50 per cent of children under five years in the state.
“Currently, over 900,000 children, representing 57 per cent children in the state are stunted; meaning six out of every 10 children less than five years in the state are stunted due to malnutrition.
Also, over 750,000 children are wasted, which implies that 47 per cent of the children are suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and are 10 times more likely to die,” she said.
Oni noted that the state government was already doing something about it, adding that much needed to be done if the epidemic would be address.
“So far, the State Government has released about N37 million to treat just about 3,060 children, and UNICEF had equally supported the government with same amount to treat additional 3,060 children.
When you add up, it will give you just 6,120 children that are being treated. This is a very insignificant figure when compared with the over 1.6 million malnourished children in the state,’’ she stated.
She added that UNICEF in collaboration with the state government has rolled out Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) in March this year as part of efforts to address the problem.
According to her, 507 children from six to 59 months old with severe acute malnutrition were admitted into CMAM between March and May. She added that 138 have been treated and discharged, while two defaulted and five died.
She also said that 60 health workers and 160 community volunteers had been trained and acquired necessary skills and capacity for the management of SA.
The nutrition expert said that Community Infant and Young Child Feeding (CIYF) were also rolled out in the state to educate mothers on proper feeding of children.
