SCHOLASTICA HIR FROM THE SUN
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called on the Benue Government to increase its budgetary allocations for nutrition to end all forms of malnutrition, especially among children and adolescents in the state.
The Officer in Charge of UNICEF Field Office Enugu, Dr. Shamina Sharmin, made this call during the Policy Dialogue with Benue State Executive and Legislative Councils on Investment in Nutrition held in Makurdi, yesterday.
The theme of the event was “Harnessing optimal development potentials of Benue State children and adolescents through investment in maternal, infant, young child and Adolescent nutrition key to sustainable development.”
Sharmin said the theme was timely as it is in line with the global development agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals which clearly states that by “2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons.”
She, however, regretted that in Benue State, 336,043 of children under five years were stunted according to the NDHS 2023/24 report representing 26 percent.
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