The Federal Ministry of Health has proposed moms to stop giving water to babies under the six months’ but should concentrate on exclusive br*ast feeding.
The Top of Nutrition, Family Health Department, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Chris Isokpunwu, stated this in Abuja on Monday throughout a high level consultative meeting with states on hastening nutrition result in Nigeria.
Isokpunwu said statistics showed at least 46 percent of mothers gave their babies water along with br*ast milk.
The doctor said this was wrong because it left the youngsters vulnerable to ailments, including that br*ast milk contained water.
He stated, “Babies below the age of six months should be exclusively on breast milk. About 46 per cent of mothers give water to their babies along with breast milk. This is wrong and it must be stopped. It increases the risks of babies having diarrhoea and pneumonia.”
In addition, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, stated that Nigeria had the second Greatest rate of malnutrition.
Adewole, who was represented with the Manager of Family Health Department at the ministry, Dr. Adebimpe Adebiyi, said not exactly, 1500 kids in Nigeria died daily of malnutrition.
The minister said, “With a stunthing rate of 31.5 per cent in 2015, which translates to about 11 million children, Nigeria has the highest number of stunted children under age five in sub-Saharan Africa, and the second highest in the world.
“Similarly, about 7.2 per cent are wasted, that is acutely malnourished and 18.6 per cent are underweight. It is also a well-established fact that, as an underlying cause of death, malnutrition accounts for more than 50 per cent of deaths of children under the age of five in Nigeria.
“Every day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 children under-five year of age and malnutrition accounts for more than half of these deaths. It is therefore obvious that we cannot seriously think about reducing deaths of children under the age of five without addressing malnutrition.”
Adewole said investigation by the Micronutrient Initiative revealed that unless Nigeria took action to prevent and control vitamin A Deficiency, over 80,000 Nigerian children would die.
The minister said the number of money required to finance the project to combat malnutrition was 912m.
For earning $ 350m called on all states to create the dream possible and available, he thanked the World Bank.
