The Borno State government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to partner in combating child malnutrition in the state.
Speaking in Maiduguri, UNICEF’s Chief of Borno Field Office, Tushar Rane, lauded Borno for paying its counterpart fund of $100,000 to the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF).
Rane said the measures taken by the state government were the smartest investment to ensure the survival of every child in the state.
According to Rane, the MoU is aimed at addressing the problem of malnutrition among children below five years as well as pregnant and lactating women through the provision of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).
Rane explained that the 2023 Northeast Nutrition and Food Security Surveillance (NFSS) round 13 put the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) prevalence in Borno at 10 per cent, followed by Adamawa with 8.0 per cent, while Yobe had 4.0 per cent.
He added that UNICEF and the nutrition sector estimated that over 1.5 million children were wasting and 511,807 suffering from severe wasting in 2024.
His words, “The same assessment revealed that stunting is also a major public health problem in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states with 25.7 per cent in Borno, 23.1 per cent in Adamawa and 32.1 per cent in Yobe among children under five years.”
In his address, the commissioner of budget and planning, Babagana Malumbe, who represented the Borno Government, recommended UNICEF for its intervention.
Malumbe highlighted that the fight against malnutrition is in line with the state government development plan.
He said the state government’s 25-year development plan was planned towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which the MoU was set to achieve.
