Malnutrition kills 2,300 Nigerian children daily ­—NGO

A non-governmental  organisation (NGO) in Kwara State, Civil Society Scaling-up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), has described malnutrition as a silent crisis that claims the  lives of 2,300 Nigerian children daily.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune at a two-day advocacy meeting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital,  on Tuesday, the project officer of the agency, Mr Ubah Nnaemeka, said if nothing was done,  the number of deaths would increase daily due to malnutrition.

The project officer, who stated that globally, out of a population of  seven billion, about  two billion suffer from micro -nutrient malnutrition, said that, “ Out of  five billion adult worldwide, nearly two billion are overweight with one in every 12 persons, having type two diabetes,” he said.

Nnaemeka  said  that malnutrition has the ability of sapping intelligence from childhood and by extension, compromising the future of Nigerian leaders.

He also said that Nigeria  currently accounted for the 11 per cent of the total global under five years death with 37 per cent of children under the age of five stunted.

He added that 18 per cent of the children were wasted and 29 per cent were underweight.

The CS-SUNN project officer stated that only 17 per cent of mothers in Nigeria breastfeed their children according to the National Demographic and Health Survey of 2013.

Nnaemeka described malnutrition to include three indicators he listed as over-nutrition, under nutrition and micro -nutrient deficiency.

Also speaking, Dr Uthman Mubashir, CS-SUNN (Kwara), the chairman, Local Working Group  (LWG),said the NGO deals with nutrition of women and children in Nigeria.

He said malnutrition is a collective problem and needed a collective response from all  relevant stakeholders.

Mubashir advocated  a strong voice by decision makers to create the desired changes in the country as regards malnutrition.