NGO says malnutrition impairs children's brains

The Save the Children International (SCI), has said malnutrition not only impairs childrens brains but has adverse effect on national economies, as it lowers productivity.

The coordinator of the NGO, Innocent Ekene, who spoke in Kaduna on Monday, October 17, 2016, said further that malnutrition does not only affect the physical structure of children, but also impair their brain development.

Putting part of the blame on the increased healthcare cost, Ekene said that the malnourished children were more likely vulnerable to diseases, thereby lowering their productivity.

He said: “Malnutrition reduces lifetime earnings by 10 per cent. Studies have also shown that children, who are stunted at the age of five, earn 22 per cent less than none stunted counterparts.

“Adequate food and optimal nutrition status are the foundation blocks for building healthy, secured lives, which form the basis for development in any nation,’’ Ekene said.

The programme was organised by the Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), in collaboration with the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH).

In his remarks, Silas Ideva, the CS-SUNN Coordinator in Kaduna State, said the training was timely, moreso that the state had just presented its 2017 proposed budget to the state House of Assembly.

Ideva said that the skills would enable the CSOs to perform their task of ensuring that funds allocated for maternal and child nutrition were released on time and fully implemented.