The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday, said child malnutrition in Nigeria is worsening, calling for actions to address the concerning trend.
It was gathered that the worry was expressed at a media dialogue on child malnutrition, themed, “Investing in Child Malnutrition for the Future”.
Speaking at the event, Nutrition Officer for UNICEF, Nkeiruka Enwelum, said data from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) indicates that Nigeria is off track to achieve United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 2 aimed at achieving zero hunger by 2030.
Quoting the data, Enwelum noted that Nigeria ranked 1st in Africa and 2nd in the world in terms of number of malnourished children.
Enwelum added that 12 million children in Nigeria are stunted, 3 million wasted and 23.5 million anaemic due to malnutrition.
UNICEF Communication Specialist, Dr Geoffrey Njoku, charged the media to mainstream the issue around child malnutrition to attract actions that would change the situation.