Feed Children Properly In First 1,000 Days To Avoid Stunted Growth – UNICEF

United Nations Children’s Fund has said inadequate nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life can lead to stunted physical and impaired cognitive development.
The nutrition officer, UNICEF Kano field office, Mrs Abigail Nyam, disclosed this in a presentation on “First 1000 Days of Life” during an advocacy dialogue meeting with news and programmes managers of radio and television stations from Kano, Jigawa and Katsina states.
According to her, how well or poorly nourished a mother is during pregnancy and her child before age two has great impact on the child’s future, noting that poor nutrition could cause an irreversible lifelong damage to child’s growing brain and body.

She said some of the effects include, weakened immune system, poor physical growth, development delays, cognitive deficits, chronic disease later in life such as diabetes and obesity among others.

“According to UNICEF’s State of the World Children 2010 Report, undernutrition contributes to more than one third of the deaths.

“Undernutrition particularly in children less than two years of age prevent them from reaching their full development potential.

“WHO’s recommendations of optimal infant feeding include, beginning breastfeeding within an hour of birth and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, followed by timely and appropriate complementary feeding after six months along with continued breastfeeding for two years or beyond,” she stressed.

While maintaining that 80 percent of brain development occurred at this period, with a foundation for lifelong health established, Mrs Nyam however pointed out that, investing in the health, nutrition and care of mothers, their young children could help states and countries achieve their developmental goals.

she further advised pregnant and nursing mothers to ensure the uptake of the multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS), emphasising on its rich composition which could meet the micronutrients requirements absent in poor diet.

Also, UNICEF advocacy specialist, Priyanka Khanna, stressed the need to ending polio in Nigeria, noting that if every child especially in the north could be reached in the next three rounds of immunisation, polio can be eradicated within the shortest time in the country.

Earlier, the chief of UNICEF’s Kano Field Office, Rahma Farah, tasked media managers to use their platforms to amplify the cause of children who are voiceless in the society.

Represented by the field’s office communication specialist, Samuel Kaalu, he noted that issues affecting children in the zone is huge, hence, there is the need to focus on advocacy priorities given the impact of the broadcast media especially radio in northern Nigeria.