The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Borno government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to partner in combating child malnutrition in the state.

Speaking at the ceremony in Maiduguri on Friday, the UNICEF chief, Borno field office, Dr Tushar Rane, lauded Borno for paying its counterpart fund of 100,000 dollars to the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF).

Mr Rane said the measure taken by the Borno government was the smartest investment to ensure the survival of children in the state.

He said that the MoU would address the problem of malnutrition among children below five years as well as pregnant and lactating women through the provision of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).

Mr Rane noted that the 2023 Northeast Nutrition and Food Security Surveillance (NFSS) round 13 put the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) prevalence in Borno at 10 per cent, followed by Adamawa at 8.0 per cent, while Yobe had 4.0 per cent.

He said that UNICEF and the nutrition sector estimated that there were over 1.5 million children wasting and 511,807 suffering from severe wasting in 2024.

“The same assessment revealed that stunting is also a major public health problem in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, with 25.7 per cent in Borno, 23.1 per cent in Adamawa and 32.1 per cent in Yobe among children under five years.”

In his remarks on behalf of the Borno government, the commissioner of budget and planning, Babagana Malumbe, lauded UNICEF for its intervention, pointing out that the fight against malnutrition was in line with the state government development plan.

Mr Malumbe said the state government’s 25-year development plan was planned towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which the MoU was set to achieve.

(NAN)