Every hour, 100 children under the age of 5 die from malnutrition in Nigeria, according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Gates Foundation, will meet with Nigerian leaders, youth, and partners to discuss health challenges, promote innovations, and enhance nutrition in Africa.
This was disclosed in a statement by the foundation on Monday and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
It stated that Gates would meet with national and local leaders, partners, grantees, and innovators during his visit on Tuesday.
“Gates, alongside other foundation leaders, will meet with experts in primary health care, agriculture, and nutrition who are driving progress across the continent, despite economic challenges,” the foundation said.
It was stated that the co-chair would also participate in a pan-African virtual dialogue addressing malnutrition through integrated health, agriculture, and financing solutions.
For this dialogue, it was disclosed that Gates would be joined by musician, educator, and humanitarian Jon Batiste.
NAN recalls that every hour, 100 children under 5 years die of malnutrition in Nigeria, according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
This means Nigeria loses approximately 2,400 children to malnutrition daily.
According to the Global Hunger Trend, there has been an increase in malnourished children compared to the previous year.
In 2023, the proportion of malnourished children rose from 9.3% to 15.9%.
As of last year, 35 million children under five years of age suffered from malnourishment.
Furthermore, 12 million children experienced stunted growth, 3 million were wasted due to excessive and rapid weight loss, and 23.5 million were anaemic.
The average reduction in stunting is only 1.4% per year.
Meanwhile, other cases related to malnutrition, such as child wasting, child stunting, and child mortality, have continued to decline.
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