The United Nations International Children’s Fund has said that 88,000 children with severe acute malnutrition are at risk of death in the North-East.
The organisation also said that about a million children between the ages of six and 59 months in the states most affected by insurgency – Borno, Adamawa and Yobe – were also acutely malnourished.
He also said that 230,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women were also acutely malnourished in the troubled region.
He said, “Over 1.5 million people lack access to safe water in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. This has caused thousands of vulnerable children in the states affected by the insurgency to become acutely malnourished.
“This is after repeated bouts of diarrhoea, including the outbreak of cholera that recently claimed 65 lives.”
He described good nutrition as the bedrock of child survival, health and development for any nation, adding that few things had more far-reaching effects on a child’s well being or a nation’s long-term strength than nutrition.
He said well-nourished children were better able to grow and contribute to their communities.
“Well-nourished children are resilient in the face of diseases and disasters,” he said.
He said the 940,000 acutely malnourished children in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states could not be let down while pledging that the agency would continue to work towards the provision of preventative and curative nutrition intervention.
