The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

Tag: Unicef

  • UNICEF budgets $10m to fight malnutrition in children

    The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) will, this year, spend $10 million to procure ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF).

     

    This is among the global agency’s efforts to combat disabilities and deaths resulting from acute malnutrition, especially among children across the country,

     

    Describing the RUTF as lifesaving, the UNICEF said Nigeria, with 17 million malnourished children at any point and 2.2 million children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM), is currently first in Africa and second in the world with the highest burden of malnourished children.

     

     

    It called for increased local production of RUTF and micronutrient powders to augment the ones imported to the country by donors in order to make treatment available, accessible and affordable.

     

    The UNICEF Chief of Nutrition in Nigeria, Nemat Hajeebhoy, said this during a virtual consultative meeting of the Minister of Health with local producers of nutrition commodities.

     

    Read Also: Insecurity threatens access to immunisation services in Northeast – UNICEF

    She said: “We must ensure that the resources allocated by the government to combat malnutrition are utilised. SAM is a major killer, and it puts a child 11 times more at the risk of dying of other diseases. If not treated, about 19 per cent of the 2.2 million children with severe acute malnutrition will die.

     

    “Children with SAM can be treated with ready-to-use therapeutic foods. We also need to boost the local production of RUTF.

     

    “UNICEF, in partnership with the government, is committed to scaling up the treatment of acute malnutrition. In Nigeria, from 2018, UNICEF has spent between $11 million to $21 million on RUTF. For 2021, UNICEF will spend $10 million on RUTF.”

     

    Health Minister Dr. Osagie Ehanire said that the Federal Government fully supported domestic production and would support any step to facilitate it.

     

    “As much as the government wants to support domestic production, we also want to be sure that the producers meet the rules and standards set by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

     

     

     

    “In response to the high prevalence of malnutrition, the Federal Government of Nigeria has introduced the community management of acute malnutrition which is focused on early identification of malnourished children, and the treatment of those with severe acute malnutrition using the highly efficacious evidence-based RUTF,” he said.

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.thenationonlineng.net

  • UNICEF – Not less than 26.5 million Nigerian Children do not have enough water to meet their daily needs

     

    The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF says no fewer than 26.5 million Nigerian Children do not have enough water to meet their daily needs and are experiencing high or extremely high water vulnerability.

     

    UNICEF in a statement to commemorate the 2021 World Water Day, said globally, more than 1.42 billion people – including 450 million children – are living in areas of high or extremely high water vulnerability.

     

    According to a new analysis released by UNICEF, one in five children worldwide lack water to meet their everyday needs.

     

     

     

    The analysis, is part of the Water Security For All Initiative, identifies areas where physical water scarcity risks overlap with poor water service levels.

     

    The statement quotes Mr Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, as saying that Communities living in these areas depend on surface water, unimproved sources of water, or water that can take more than 30 minutes to collect.

     

    “The world’s water crisis is not coming – it is here, and children are its biggest victims.

     

     

     

    “When wells dry up, children are the ones missing school to fetch water. When droughts diminish food supplies, children suffer from malnutrition and stunting.

     

    “When floods hit, children fall ill from waterborne illnesses. And when water is not available in Nigerian communities, children cannot wash their hands to fight off diseases”.

     

    The UNICEF data show that children in more than 80 countries live in areas with high or extremely high water vulnerability with Eastern and Southern Africa with the highest proportion.

     

    It is followed by West and Central Africa (31 per cent), South Asia (25 per cent), and the Middle East (23 per cent).

     

    Hawkins noted that in 2020, the Nigerian Government and UNICEF released a WASH NORM survey which showed some progress, through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and its partners to strengthen the sector’s planning and monitoring.

     

    He noted that much more work to be done in the country was to ensure that all Nigerians have access to adequate and quality water and hygiene services.

     

    “Sustainable and equitable access to safe drinking water remains a challenge in Nigeria, with over 86 per cent of Nigerians lacking access to a safely managed drinking water source.

     

    “The problem is compounded by poor drinking water quality and lack of equity in access. Although about 70 per cent of Nigerians are reported to have access to a basic water services, more than half of these water sources are contaminated”.

     

    “And although 73 per cent of the country’s population have access to a water source, only nine litres of water on average is available to a Nigerian daily.

     

    “At the current rate, the country will miss the SDG targets on people’s access to water, unless there is a strong commitment and appropriate action taken by all stakeholders.

     

    “We have to act now both to address the water crisis in Nigeria to prevent it from getting worse and if we want to meet the SDGs.

     

    “We can only achieve water security for every Nigerian, including the Nigerian child through innovation, investment and collaboration, and by ensuring services are sustainable and well-managed, We must act for the sake of our children and our planet.”

     

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that March 22 annually is commemorated as World Water Day, to raise awareness on global water crisis.

     

    The theme of World Water Day 2021 is ‘Valuing Water’.

     

    The value of water is about much more than its price – water has enormous and complex value for our households, food, culture, health, education, economics and the integrity of our natural environment. (NAN)

     

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.sunnewsonline.com