The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) have launched a new life-saving programme for children in Borno and Yobe States, TheICIR reports.
In a statement on Wednesday, March 29, UNICEF announced that the humanitarian intervention focuses on providing integrated food, nutrition, sanitation and protection services.
UNICEF indicated that the Multisectoral Integrated Nutrition Action (MINA) would be implemented through collaboration with other partners in 24 local councils of the states which would continue till March 2025 and would empower over 300,000 mothers and caregivers.
“The intervention aims to enhance dietary practices, home-based malnutrition screening skills, provision of high impact lifesaving nutrition interventions (such as early identification and referral of acute malnutrition cases for treatment), and micronutrient supplementation to prevent infections among children. These interventions are aimed at improving the survival of children affected by conflict,” the organisations say.
Quoting the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey and National Immunization Coverage Survey (MICS-NICS 2021), the agency explained that with approximately one in four children aged 12-23 months not vaccinated, the North-East region has one of the highest numbers of unvaccinated children in Nigeria.
They added: “Data from the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASH NORM 2021) shows that four per cent of the population in Borno and two per cent in Yobe have access to safely managed drinking water. Up to 1.1 million people across the region still practice open defecation, a risk factor for malnutrition and stunting in children.
“The project leverages a bouquet of essential services and community structures to provide integrated essential services for children, including birth registration and immunisation services, nutrition counselling, cash transfer support, the establishment of vegetable gardens, market-based sanitation and hygiene interventions, mothers’ groups, nutrition mobilisers and WASH Committees.”
Cristian Munduate, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, said the first 1000 days of a child’s life required much attention and investments which the initiative would provide. “It is heartwarming that through the capacity building and empowerment approach of this project, thousands of children will benefit from this intervention in the long term,” he said.
The two Boko Haram-ravaged states have faced a decade-long security crisis which displaced about a million people, orphaned hundreds of children, and caused high-scale destruction of infrastructures, including schools, hospitals and power sources.
