A consultant paediatrician at the Paediatrics Department, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Kaduna State, Sani Mado, has appealed to key stakeholders for improved actions against rising cases of wasting and stunting.

Mr Mado told journalists on Sunday in Zaria at the sidelines of 2024 Malnutrition Awareness Week that over the last six months, the department recorded over 600 cases of severe acute malnutrition. 

According to him, 55 per cent of all the admitted cases at the paediatrics emergency unit of the hospital were under nutrition to severe acute malnutrition.

Mr Mado said that the figures indicated that there were increasing cases of malnutrition among children below five years.

He said the Malnutrition Awareness Week featured medical outreach and nutritional assessment for children less than five years at Mile-Goma in the Giwa Local Government of the state.

Mr Mado said, “Surprisingly, 18 per cent of the children of the area were having severe wasting; this figure surpasses the national average. What is more worrisome was that 32 per cent of the children were stunted; the national average of stunting is 28 per cent and we recorded 32 per cent in Mile-Goma.”

He, therefore, appealed for a more concerted effort by the key stakeholders in the sector towards reversing the negative indices.

The paediatrician appealed to the government to improve the economy of the general population.

This, he said, was to ensure that mothers and caregivers could give the right combination to their children to enable them to grow and develop well.

Similarly, Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Balarabe Aminu, said the ABUTH’s management had established a malnutrition support steering committee.

According to him, it’s part of the sustained efforts to tame the rising cases of malnutrition at the national and sub-national levels.

He added that the committee would look into the rising cases of patients coming up with the cases of clinical malnutrition at the hospital.

According to him, the committee was charged with the responsibility of evaluating patients with clinical malnutrition in conjunction with managing physicians and nurses.

Mr Aminu said, “The committee has designed a protocol for managing their malnutrition in line with the disease that brought them to the hospital.’’

He said that the hospital would soon incorporate other staff members of the hospital concerned with managing malnutrition into various subcommittees of the malnutrition support committee to enhance service delivery.

Mr Aminu said, “Henceforth, patients that come into the hospital with any sign of malnutrition will receive attention regardless of the ailment that was brought into the hospital.”

He said that the week was commemorated by the committee with support from the West African Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. 

The week, observed from September 16 to September 20, featured advocacy and sensitisation campaigns within and outside the hospital, medical outreach and a conference.

(NAN)