Oyo State has recorded the highest rate of malnutrition in Southwestern Nigeria, with malnourished children under five-years-old having a mortality rate of 73 deaths per 1000 live births, and an infant mortality rate of 59 per 1000 live births.
The Civil Society-Scale Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) on scaling up nutrition in Oyo State stated this at its advocacy meeting on Tuesday.
The project coordinator, Ambrose Evhoesor, maintained that nutrition in the state has over the years been neglected, with 34.5 percent of children under five-years-old being stunted, 3.8 percent wasted and 19.9 percent underweight according to a 2018 NDHS research, which also finds that only 49.5 percent of children less than six-months-old are exclusively breastfed.
Evhoesor noted that adequate nutrition is essential to children’s growth and development. According to him, the first 1000 days of a child’s life (the period from conception to age 2) is especially important for optimal physical, mental and cognitive growth, health and development.
“Malnutrition is a condition that occurs when people consistently do not consume or absorb the right amounts and types of food and essential nutrients. One of the main indicators of childhood malnutrition is stunting, when children are too short for their age. Stunted children have poor cognitive and brain development which prevents them from reaching their full potentials in life in an increasingly competitive world,” the project coordinator said.
“Malnutrition is caused by several factors, including lack of food, improper feeding and caring practices, economic and political structures, low status and lack of education among women, and so on.
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