UNICEF: 17.2m Under Five Nigerian Children Stunted

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has raised the alarm over the disturbing rate of stunted children in the country disclosing that no less than 17.2 million children below age 5 were affected.

The UNICEF Nutrition Specialist, Akure Office, Mrs Ada Ezeogu, who disclosed the figure at the opening of a 2-day Media Dialogue On Child Nutrition in South West Nigeria,

Stunting is a health situation in child growth in which a child’s height is shorter than his or her age

According to her, statistics showed that 37 per cent of children representing over six million are malnourished

She disclosed that the 17.2 million figure represents 43.6 per cent of estimated 40 million Nigerian children under age of five years.

Ezeogwu duscloses that 19.4 per cent children in the South West are stunted resulting from malnourishment.

“This is worse than the South East and South South but better than the North. And we must do more as agenda setters to keep this issue on national discourse and help reverse the ugly trend,” she said.

She decried the downward slide in the bid to reduce its prevalence some decades ago which was pegged at 50.3 per cent in 1990, drastically reduced overtime, but now increased significantly to 43.6 per cent according to a 2017 statistics report.

The Ogun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dayo Adeneye, who declared the event open, also lamented that the overview of National Nutritional Level shows that 80 per cent of the world’s stunted children, live in 14 countries and Nigeria is the second largest contributor after India.

“It is equally lamentable to discover that Nigeria’s nutrition status has not improved for the past ten years. We cannot continue to fold our hands and stand aloof with such issues staring us in the face, most especially, when those affected are the vulnerable in society.

“These are the under-fives, who have no voice and are definitely looking up to us to proffer solutions to their plights,” he said, listing several interventions like Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and other community based schemes to reduce the menace.