Almost three million under-five Nigerian children are malnourished, while 361,000 children die yearly in the country due to malnutrition and related diseases, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC) has said.
CISLAC Program Officer Health Advocacy, Mr Mohammed Murtala, who disclosed this on Saturday in Kaduna said Nigeria ranked among 20 countries in the world with high malnourished children, which contributed 80% to the global cases of malnourished children.
Presenting an overview of malnutrition in Nigeria during a one-day Legislative Summit on the ‘Prevention and Treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) as a Child Right Issue’ organized by CISLAC for Speakers and some members of Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano and Katsina State Houses of Assembly in Kaduna, he said developing countries are most affected by malnutrition
“Malnutrition reduces development of every country and it’s one of the causes of under five deaths in Nigeria and 361,000 children die every year from malnutrition related problems.”
CISLAC Executive Director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, said Nigeria records the highest burden of Malnutrition in Africa. “One in every three (32%) of Nigerian children experiencing nutrition deficit. Malnutrition reduces the GDP of a nation by 8%, malnutrition impedes physical growth and cognitive development of a child.”
He said the summit provides a platform for the Speakers, Chairmen Committees on Health and Appropriation and other legislators from the five states to understand their states nutrition situation, recognise nutrition as a human right issue and carry out legislative intervention to ensure that severe acute malnutrition is prevented and treated where it already exists.
Rafsanjani said CISLAC frowns at the N146 million allocated for the treatment of children suffering from SAM in the proposed 2021 appropriation bill currently with the National Assembly because it’s grossly inadequate to cater for the millions of children requiring treatment in the country.
Ranfsanjani said they will be engaging the leadership as well as the relevant committees of the National Assembly to ensure that this figure is improved upon.
He urged the five states legislative members that participated in the Summit from Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano and Katsina to do their best to ensure that nutrition is given priority, made a line budget and see to it that adequate fund are made available for nutrition and are promptly released in full in their various states.
