Gombe State accounts for 44 per cent of malnourished children in Nigeria, an official has said.
Malam Alhassan Yahya, state Chairmen, Maternal Neonatal Child Health coalition, disclosed this in Gombe during a media and Civil Society Organization meeting organized by the International Society of Media in Public Health on prevention of malnutrition.
He said the figure was provided by the Nigeria Nutrition Health Survey 2018.
Yahya identified three key factors that contributed to the rise as influx of Internally Displaced Persons, poverty and lack of knowledge of what nutrition is all about.
According to him, the situation is worrisome because it is claiming lives day by day.
He commended the international organizations as well as CSOs working in this direction.
He said N45.5 million was budgeted for in 2019 for malnutrition in the state, but the major challenge they are facing is lack of release.
On the part of CSOs, Placidos Peters, who is also the Executive Director, Care for Life, said they need to wake up to their responsibilities, get to the grassroots, mobilize and educate people on the prevention of Severe Acute Malnutrition.
Solomon Dogo Senior, Programme Manager, ISMPH, said the objective of the meeting is to secure media commitment towards holding policy makers accountable on the issue of malnutrition and to adopt key policies related to Severe Acute Malnutrition.