39% kids suffer malnutrition – Kano deputy gov

By Bashir Mohammed
Kano

Kano state Deputy Governor, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, has charged households in the state to engage in the provision of simple balance diet foods to their pregnant women to avoid producing children with the malnutrition cases.
He made the call at the flag-off ceremonies of the first round 2017 Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) programme organised by the state at Dambatta local government area.

Abubakar explained that according to investigation, 39% of Nigerian children “suffer malnutrition and high number of such children were from the North-west, which has directly affected their social conditions.”
“Figures indicated that 39% of children under one – five years in Nigeria were suffering from malnutrition cases and the North-west had constituted 52% of such children, which explained that out of every two children, one is malnourished,” he said.
He said the result was the outcome of survey conducted 30 years ago, pointing out that the number of such children with the similar cases of malnutrition “is still rising to an alarming rate.”
“The first implication of malnutrition to child health has to do with the brain function, which psychologically affects his learning process and interaction with other fellow beings.”

He announced that the state government “is spending huge amounts of money in providing the needed nutritious foods to ensure healthy grow of children in the state.”
Earlier, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Kabiru Ibrahim Getso, said the state had made adequate drugs and anti-malaria medicines for pregnant women in the state.
“The state government has made adequate provision of maternal drugs and other essential vaccines that protect pregnant women against malaria infection apart from the ongoing immunisation of pregnant women against meningitis,” he said.
Getso stressed that the Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje placed much emphasis on the provision of health care facilities to ensure that people continued to enjoy the dividends of good governance.

Leave a Reply