Nigeria’s coordinating minister for health and social welfare, Mohammed Ali Pate, has disclosed that a lack of growth by children automatically means a lack of growth in the nation’s economy.
Pate stated this at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation event, Organised to celebrate some individuals as Children’s Health and Nutrition Champions at its Goalkeepers 2024 event with the theme, “Recipe for Progress.”
Pate said with about 400 million children facing malnutrition, 148 million children experiencing stunting and 45 million children experiencing wasting, countries and philanthropists must come together to fight the scourge.
Pate said that in the 30 years of his career as a maedical professional, it is now the golden era to create new partnerships in health.
He said he visited a hospital in Abuja and saw a 20-year-old woman with four children malnourished.
“She was also malnourished,” Pate said, adding, “When people can’t grow, their economy can’t grow.
“Malnutrition is a problem but there is hope when we come together,” Pate added.
Speaking, the founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, said he has been working with Pate for many years on health-related issues in Nigeria.
He said the progress they achieved in the world on health in the last five years has been stalled basically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues.
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