The Kaduna State Government says no fewer than 20,334 malnourished children were treated out of 34,039 admitted in various Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) sites across the state in 2022.

The state’s Nutrition Officer, Ramatu Haruna, made this known at a two-day training on Nutrition Data Management, organised by the State Primary Health Care Development Board, in Zaria, Kaduna State, on Tuesday.

The training, supported by UNICEF, was for state officials, local government health authorities, nutrition focal persons and monitoring and evaluation officers.

Haruna said out of 34,039 admitted children, 23,505 were admitted in 2022, while 10,534 were brought forward from 2021.

She noted that 34,039 malnourished children admitted in 2022 were higher than the 28,524 recorded in 2021, adding that new admissions
also increased from 20,334 in 2021 to 23,505 in 2022.

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She said the cure rate increased from 17,063 in 2021 to 20,334 in 2022, adding that the state recorded steady decrease in the number of deaths among children with severe acute malnutrition.

The nutrition officer stated that the number of deaths decreased from 323 in 2019 to 142 in 2020 and further down to 58 in 2021 and 37 in 2022.

Haruna said 316,203 people were reached with key nutrition messages during support group meetings, of which, 75,107 were
pregnant women, and 63,901 were mothers of children below six months.

Others, she said, were 63,011 mothers of children of six months to 23 months, 55,248 women of childbearing age, 34,166 grand mothers and 24,635 men.

She attributed the successes recorded in improving the nutrition indices of children in the state to massive interventions by the state government with support from development partners.

Haruna added that the scale up of CMAM, Community-Infant and Young Child Feeding and Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition programmes to local government areas in 2022 were m helpful.

She stated that the scale up was supported by UNICEF and the World Bank-supported Accelerating Nutrition Result in Nigeria in 2022.

She identified other development partners supporting nutrition interventions in the state as Alive and Thrive, Save the Children International, Global Alliance for Improve Nutrition, and Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria.

The Star