UNICEF Nigeria holds a media dialogue on community management of acute malnutrition

On 17 August 2015, UNICEF organised a media conference in Kano, northwest Nigeria, on child malnutrition and community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM). The event represented an opportunity to review progress made in Nigeria’s health sector and highlight the challenges that remain. It was also an occasion to recognise overcoming Ebola and one year without a new polio case.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Linus Awute, attended the event and pledged to improve the nutritional status of its children as part of a larger goal of reducing infant mortality. Head of Nutrition for the Federal Ministry of Health and SUN Government Focal Point, Dr Chris Isokpunwu, urged all levels of government to increase funding for nutrition and commit to the implementation of “the strategic plan of action for nutrition.”

”The government of Nigeria is committed to reaching more children with CMAM, we cannot accept that Nigerian children continue to die of malnutrition and that our potential future leaders should be dismissed by its effect” – Linus Awute, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health Nigeria

Experts at the meeting drew attention to importance of nutrition. They highlighted that stunted growth and deaths due to malnutrition have a huge impact on national economic growth. They shared statistics of malnourished children across Nigeria and offered solutions such as increased government funding. Figures from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey say that 11 million Nigerian children suffer stunting, a key indicator of childhood malnutrition. This figure, cutting across social strata and regions, is the second highest in the world after India.

Learn more about the event: Voice of Nigeria, UNICEF Nigeria