UNICEF alerts rich Lagos has stunted children caused by preventable malnutrition
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous and richest state by internally generated revenue (IGR), has about 200,000 children with stunted growth as a result of malnutrition, United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) Nutrition Specialist, Ada Ezeogu, has lamented.
She said it is imperative to ensure the numbers do not continue to increase because stunting has dire consequences on physical growth and cognitive development.
Ezeogu spoke at a Media Advocacy Meeting, organised in Lagos by the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in collaboration with UNICEF, where she explained stunting and wasting are health conditions caused by malnutrition.
“Stunting affects not just physical growth but cognitive development. And stunting, once the effect of stunting has set in, it is irreversible and cannot be changed,” Ezeogu said, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
“That means, when a child is stunted, you can’t change that. That child is compromised in terms of height, physical development and cognitive development.
“So, you will not get the best from that child and that child will not achieve the full potential in life.
“Also, there are implications for the onset of adult non-communicable diseases like diabetes, and a tendency for a stunted or malnourished child to have it later in life.”
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Preventing stunting early
Ezeogu warned stunting has implications that go beyond childhood even unto adulthood which is why it should be prevented as much as possible, per Daily Trust.
“Once there is malnutrition, the child easily falls ill and the immune system is also compromised, and because of that, health cost increases because the child is taken more often to hospital and will be treated.
“Also, that child may also not be as good as one who is fully nourished in school and by implication, result in repetition of class. All these have an economic impact in the economy and in the school system.”
Ezeogu disclosed wasting in Lagos is higher than the global target of less than 5 per cent, with the state on 6.4 per cent, translating to about 200,000 children.
“Immediately a child is screened and found to be severely malnourished, the child should be referred to a health centre.
“Fortunately, Lagos is already doing something with the management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
“They are using the ready-to-use therapeutic food and if there are underlying conditions, they will be treated.
“We encourage mothers to take these children immediately to health facilities for attention because for wasting. If these children are not treated on time, we may lose them.”
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