Wednesday 7 March 2018

Disturbing Statistic of Stunted Children in Yoruba Lands, Edo, a Call for Reawakening

Rebecca Ejifoma

Nutrition Specialists and Health experts with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have released disturbing estimates on malnutrition and stunting among children from age zero to five in all Southwestern states – Yoruba lands and Edo state in Nigeria.

States in the Southwest include: Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo.

According to the breakdown of statistic, Edo state result shows there are  117,635 stunted children out of 864,964 of its under-five population. Ekiti has 666,762 under-five children and 146,013 are stunted in growth while Ogun state has 1,063,071 children of under-five age and 277,472 of them are stunted.



Ondo has 213,435 stunted children out of its 952,183 under-five years old. While Osun has got 966,77405 under-five children and 227,192 are stunted, Oyo state has 392,827 stunted babies out of 1,609,948 under-five children.

Sadly, this means there is a total of 6,939,730 children aged under-five in Southwest. Out of these children, a whooping 1,547,098 are stunted.

Stunting, the Nutrition Specialist UNICEF, Akure Office, Ada Ezeogu, described is a manifestation of the severe, irreversible physical and cognitive damage caused by chronic malnutrition early in a child. “Stunting is one of the most significant barriers to human development. Adding, she said stunting is a life sentence, which starts from the womb. Hence, it is an emergency that needs to be addressed.

Speaking at the media dialogue on child nutrition, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ogun State, Mr. Dayo Adeneye  described nutrition as a complex issue. Adding, he said there was need to intensify effort in order to reduce stunting. “There is need for proper nutrition, especially now that Nigeria is at a critical stage of malnutrition.”

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