The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has raised concern over the nutritional status of children in Kano State, revealing that 51.9 per cent of children are stunted.
The UNICEF Chief of Field Office Kano, Mr Rahma Farah, stated this during the official handover of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) held at Takai Local Government Area of Kano.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food was procured through a joint government and UNICEF Child Nutrition Match Fund initiative.
Farah, represented by Dr Serekeberehan Deres, Health Manager, UNICEF Field Office Kano, noted that the figure implies that one in every two children in the state is not growing well due to chronic malnutrition.
He also said that over 10 per cent of children in the state were wasted, a condition in which a child was too thin for their height, often as a result of recent and severe weight loss.
The health manager warned that wasting significantly increases the risk of death if not treated promptly, adding that child malnutrition remains a major public health concern that requires urgent attention from all stakeholders.
Farah called for increased investment in nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions, particularly during the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.
He urged the government, civil society organisations, religious and traditional leaders to scale up actions to combat malnutrition, particularly through improved access to nutrition services, education, clean water and healthcare.
According to him, investment in child nutrition is one of the most cost effective interventions for national development.
Earlier, the Kano State Commissioner for Health, Dr Abubakar Labaran, said the government was committed to improving child nutrition and had recently launched programmes targeting maternal and child health.
Labaran promised that the state would continue to partner with UNICEF and other development partners to reduce malnutrition rates and improve child survival and development indicators.
NAN reports that malnutrition remains a major contributor to child mortality and poor educational outcomes in Nigeria, especially in the northern part of the country.
