First 1,000 days crucial for infant’s health — Experts
THE nutrition situation of children in Nigeria remains worrisome. According to the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, MICs, 1 in 10 children die before their fifth birthday though an improvement from the MICS 2016 which was put at 1 in 8 children. Also, a global report tagged: “Fed to Fail” in 2021 rated Nigeria 2nd among countries with the highest number of children with malnutrition in the world and 1st in the whole of Africa. It also showed that at least 17 million Nigerian children are undernourished; stunted or wasted. The 2021 multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics and other partners also revealed that only 77 per cent of Nigerian children are not breastfed within one hour of birth and 66 per cent are not exclusively breastfed. The report further found that among children aged 7-14 years, 73 percent have no foundational literacy skills and 75 per cent also do not have foundational numeracy skills. While one out of every 4 (26 per cen...