From Agaju Madugba, Katsina
THE 2016 UNICEF Global Nutrition Report says 361,000 children in Nigeria die annually from malnutrition with a total of 2.1 million others currently diagnosed as suffering from malnutrition.
The figures, according to the report, placed the country second in global ranking of prevalence of stunting and wasting, after India.
Jigawa State has the highest prevalence rate followed by Katsina State.
The Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Malam Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, presented the report at the weekend during a meeting with Governor Aminu Bello Masari at the Katsina State Government House
Quoting from the report, Rafsanjani noted that Katsina was among the states in Nigeria with less than 10 per cent exclusive breastfeeding practice while 11 other states including Abuja have a total record of 1,700, 000 malnourished children.
The states are Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Adamawa, Yobe and Borno.
Rasfanjani described CISLAC as a UNICEF-sponsored project working towards reducing malnutrition among children and their mothers.
According to him, “Globally, 25,000 children under the age of five years die daily and 45 per cent of cause of death is attributed to mal-nutrition.
“Nigeria is one of the 20 countries responsible for 80 per cent of global child malnutrition which accounts for one tenth of the global total.”
He said that UNICEF had budgeted N820 million for tackling mal-nutrition among children in Katsina State noting that, “all that is required for the state to access the fund is for it to pay its N120 million counterpart funding.”