Nigeria has emerged as the country with the highest burden of malnourished children in Africa, according to a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The global agency, in a statement published on its official website on Tuesday, revealed that only two out of every ten Nigerian children suffering from severe acute malnutrition currently receive treatment.
UNICEF noted that around two million Nigerian children are affected by severe acute malnutrition (SAM), making the nation the second-worst globally for stunted child growth.
“Nigeria has the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 32 percent among children under five,” the report said.
Malnutrition, the agency explained, is either a direct or underlying cause of 45 percent of all deaths among children under five.
In a damning revelation, UNICEF said exclusive breastfeeding rates in Nigeria have remained stagnant over the last decade, with only 17 percent of babies exclusively breastfed in their first six months. Additionally, just 18 percent of children aged six to 23 months are fed a minimum acceptable diet.
Women are not spared either, as seven percent of women of childbearing age reportedly suffer from acute malnutrition.
The report also identified northern Nigeria as the region worst hit by both stunting and wasting, the two most prevalent forms of malnutrition in the country.
UNICEF warned that Nigeria’s nutrition crisis poses grave implications for national development, stressing that stunting is linked to poor cognitive development, weak educational outcomes, and low productivity in adulthood — factors contributing to an estimated 11 percent loss in the country’s GDP.
“We aim to ensure that women, children and adolescents, particularly in vulnerable and deprived areas, benefit from increased access to and use of quality services and information to prevent and treat malnutrition, including in emergencies,” UNICEF affirmed.
