The other eight states, according to the Centre, are Katsina with 0.9 million, Bauchi 0.8 million, Kaduna 0.7 million, Jigawa 0.7 million while Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara and Borno have 0.5 million respectively.
CISLAC disclosed this statistical information in a paper presented by its Programme Officer, Muhammed Murtala at an Executive/Legislative/CSOs/Media Roundtable conference held in Bauchi, revealing that 12 million children have so far been discovered stunted in 2018, thus ranking the country 2nd after India on a number of stunted children globally.
Mohammed Murtala who presented a paper titled ‘Nutrition Situation in Bauchi State: A call to Action’ at the roundtable organised by CISLAC in partnership with United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) said that nearly 40% of children in poor countries have their growth stunted by malnutrition caused by lack of proper nutrients which stops the brain from developing properly.
“Stunting is what happens to a child’s brain and anybody when they don’t get the right kind of food or nutrients in their first 1, 000 days of life,” CISLAC stated.
The Programme Officer also stated that every 1 in 2 children are stunted in the North-East and North-West zones of the country while only about 1 in 5 children are stunted in the Southern part of the country.
He attributed the challenges to addressing malnutrition in Bauchi state to 14 out of the 20 LGAs in the state to 70% without Cluster Managers (CMAN) intervention which is grossly inadequate for the state.
He added that “Transporting CMAN commodities which are ready-to-use-therapeutic-food (RUTF) and Routine Drugs from the State Drugs Store to LGAs and opiod treatment program (OTP) sites are faced with challenges resulting in periodic stock outs.”
Mohammed Murtala, however, suggested that the state government should take up ownership and sustainability of CMAN programs while the ministry of health is to ensure budget allocation for the procurement of ready-to-use- therapeutic–food (RUTH) for the year 2019 and subsequent years.
He concluded that “It is also to ensure timely release of the budgeted fund, and a planned and phased scale-up of CMAN by policymakers,” stressing that malnutrition has a high economic and health cost and a return of $16 for every $1 invested.