Zamfara state records 115,000 malnourished children – Survey

Zamfara state records over 115,146 children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), the 2023 Nutrition Standard Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions (SMART), Survey revealed.

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Mr Abraham Mahama, the Nutrition Specialist, and Field Office of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), disclosed on Tuesday, while making a presentation on the findings of the survey conducted in June, for the three states of Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara.

He spoke at a one-day meeting for the dissemination of the 2023 Nutrition SMART Survey and Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, Acute Malnutrition analysis report for the state.

Mahama said, UNICEF in collaboration with SPHCB and the National Bureau of Statistics, conducted the SMART Survey in June in the three states.

According to the data from the Routine Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition programme, no fewer than 150,387 children with SAM had been admitted for treatment.

“It was recorded across 75 primary health facilities of the state from January to October.

“You know, we use the report to know the prevalence of SAM, Moderate Acute Malnutrition and Global Acute Malnutrition,” Mahama said.

He commended USAID and Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance and other partners for their financial support to the Integrated Nutrition Programme in the state.

The Vice Chancellor, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, Prof. Lawal Bilbis, who moderated the discussion on the report, urged the participants to deliver on the commitment given to them towards addressing the challenges.

Bilbis described malnutrition as a great challenge not only to the children but to the future of society in general.

“While appreciating the UNICEF for its various interventions, we have to do the needful from our own angle at individual levels,” he said.

Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of SPHCB, Dr Hussaini Yakubu, promised the State Government’s commitment toward addressing the malnutrition challenges as well as other areas of primary healthcare delivery.

During the meeting, UNICEF donated Laptops and accessories to the state nutrition officials and nutrition officers of the 14 Local Government Areas aimed at improving data management.