Number of Severely Malnourished Children in Kaduna State Untrue … Are 263,495, Not 1.6m – KADENAP

Number of Severely Malnourished Children in Kaduna State Untrue

… Are 263,495, Not 1.6m – KADENAP

Zainab Tanimu –Kaduna, NIGERIA

The Kaduna State Emergency Nutrition Action Plan, (KADENAP) is living no stone unturned in the fight against malnutrition in Kaduna state. This has been demonstrated through various activities of Her Excellency, the Wife of the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Chairperson, Kaduna State Emergency Nutrition Action Programme, Hajiya Ummi El-Rufai.

In her bid to reversing the disturbing alarming statistics on malnutrition in the state as presented in the UNICEF report of 2017, Her Excellency in January , 2017 launched the KADENAP as a taskforce to taking concrete actions  that would address the issue of malnutrition in the state such as providing food for the vulnerable which is now yielding positive results.
Hajiya Ummi Garba El-Rufai in reaction to the recent report on the actual number of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) cases in Kaduna state had expressed her concern saying,   it is wrongly quoted.

She said, the actual number of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in Kaduna State is 263,495, and not the wrongly reported 1.6 million.

The Kaduna Emergency Nutrition Action Plan made the clarification in a statement signed by its Communication Media Assistant, Fatima Umaru Hadeija, made available to Journalists against Malnutrition (JAM) on Saturday, February 17, 2018.

“The case load of children below the age of five years with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is 263,495

“The case load of children below the age of five years with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) is 248, 394,” it stated.

It explained that with such data, the current prevalence rate of SAM in Kaduna is 8.1%.

“The attention of all stakeholders working towards promoting nutrition and fighting against malnutrition is drawn on the current nutrition situation of children under the age of five in Kaduna State.

“An updated and most reliable data currently being used for nutrition program planning nationally and internationally on Kaduna State is shown below;

“Please endeavour to use and share this authentic data as a vital instrument for advocacy and resource motivation, as well for urgent need to correct previous data of 1.6 million claimed to be severely malnourished in the state with a misleading claim of getting such data from UNICEF.

“It is important to note that UNICEF has since denied ever given such information,” it pointed out

KADENAP further said that it is also important to note that the wrong figure being circulated (i.e 1.6 million) represents the total population of children under the age of five in Kaduna state as a projected population of 8 million people in 2015/16 in the state and not those with SAM.