Katsina State Government has expressed willingness to work with the United Nations Children’s Fund, Unicef, to make 1.6 million children receive two doses of Vitamin A supplements to tackle malnutrition.
Governor Dikko Radda gave the assurance when he received the Chief of Unicef, Kano Field Office, Rahama Farah, and his team on an advocacy visit to Katsina State, North-West Nigeria.
Farah explained to the Governor that based on the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, MICS which was done in 2021, 1.6 million people are battling with hunger in Katsina State.
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He said out of the number, 63,000 are currently suffering from acute food insecurity from across the 34 local government areas hence, the need to reverse the trend by supporting them.
Farah further added that, out of the state’s two million under-five children, 1.2 million are stunted while 574,200 are moderately wasted, 250,151 are severely wasted and 1,376,000 currently suffering from anemia.
The Unicef Chief also informed the Governor that, the state has performed well in other areas such as education in the previous administration urging him to consolidate on the gains.
Governor Dikko Radda while responding said his administration will inaugurate a committee to work with Unicef to address challenges affecting the state in the areas of nutrition education, health, water, sanitation and hygiene, child protection, and social policy.
According to him, “You are coming here to support us to make our lives better. So, if you are coming to support us and make our own lives better, why can’t we support you to do that?”.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
