Malnutrition Kills 33 Children In Nasarawa –Chief Dietitian

No fewer than 33 children have died of acute malnutrition in Nasarawa State, the state’s Chief Dietitian/Nutritionist, Mrs. Yagana Shani, has disclosed.

In a telephone interview with Saturday Punch, Shani said the deaths were recorded between 2012 and 2015.

According to her, seven deaths were recorded in 2012; 10 in 2013; seven in 2014; and nine in 2015.

Shani added that scores of children had been admitted to hospitals this year as a result of severe malnutrition.


Commenting on the situation, the state’s Nutrition Officer, Mrs. Amina Ahmed, attributed poor diet among children in the state to low budgetary allocation, low capacity building efforts, weak organisational structure for monitoring/evaluation and low political willpower.

She described the current situation in the state as unacceptable, saying arrangements should be made to ensure that the prevalent rate of malnutrition was reduced to a barest minimum.