A coalition of non-governmental organisations with concern for nutrition has raised the alarm over the high rate of malnutrition among infants and young children in Kwara state.
Presenting the state policy brief on nutrition at a sensitisation programme organised by the civil society-scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) in Ilorin on Tuesday, the senior monitoring and evaluation officer of the body, Jayne Arinze-Egemonye, said that Kwara state is home to a large population of malnourished children and pregnant women.
The CS-SUNN officer said that the latest report by the National Nutrition Health Survey (NNHS) indicated that the state has under 5 mortality rate of 45 deaths per 1000 live births and an infant mortality rate of 40 per 1,000 live births.
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Arinze-Egemonye, who said that nutrition, as an essential component of well-being, had over the years, been neglected by the state government, adding that 32.5 per cent of children under five are stunted, 7.0 per cent are wasted, 19.9 per cent are underweight and only 35.7 per cent of children less than six months are exclusively breastfed in the state.
The NGOs also noted that the state government should increase investment to nutrition specific and sensitive interventions, saying that government investment in key nutrition interventions had been poor between 2015 and 2018.
“Most times, despite budgetary allocation, little or no funds are released. It has been observed that even when the government expands the size of the state budget, the budget for nutrition-specific interventions does not follow the same trajectory. When aggregate expenditure is cut, budgetary allocation for key nutrition-specific intervention is slashed more in relative terms. The Kwara state government is paying little attention to malnutrition, which is alarming by all measurable indicator”, she said.
Also speaking, the Pooled fund project consultant for the CS-SUNN, Dr Mariam Adekeye, said that government would reduce the proportion of persons who suffer from hunger by 50 per cent by 2025 when it increases investment in nutrition.
Dr Adekeye also said that the state would witness an increase in exclusive breastfeeding rate by 50 per cent, reduction in stunting among children under five by 50 per cent, an increase in vitamin A supplement by 50 per cent by 2025 when it increases investment in nutrition.
In his speech, director of Planning in the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, Alhaji Isa Ibrahim, said that the incoming government would reintroduce cash backing to proposals on nutrition.
He also said that the ministry of Agric should be made to come up with better programmes on nutrition and feeding, adding that the ministry should be provided with tools and equipment for better production.