UNICEF launches new project to protect children in Northeast
By Njadvara MUSA, Maiduguri
In order to provide integrated food, nutrition, sanitation, and protection services in the Northeast, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UK Government have announced humanitarian operations.
Another 300,000 moms and carers in the area affected by the violence will also be empowered by the new project.
Cristian Munduate, the UNICEF representative for Nigeria, stated yesterday (Wednesday) in Abuja: “A child’s first 1,000 days of life are a window of opportunity unlike any other. UNICEF is appreciative of the FCDO’s support in helping some of the world’s most disadvantaged children by making early investments in their lives.
She claims that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK government is funding the new initiative.
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She continued by saying that UNICEF and its partners are carrying out child protection activities in 24 local councils in the states of Borno and Yobe through March 2025.
She claims that the intervention’s goals are to improve eating habits, home-based malnutrition screening abilities, and the availability of highly effective, life-saving nutrition therapies.
She said the nutritional interventions included the early identification and referral of acute malnutrition cases for treatment.
Besides, she added that the micronutrients supplementation is to prevent infections among children.
“These interventions are aimed at improving the survival of children affected by conflict,” she declared in the statement.
She further disclosed that 25% of children between the age of 12 and 23 months are not vaccinated.
According to her, the Northeast region has one of the highest numbers of unvaccinated children in Nigeria.
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey and National Immunization Coverage Survey (MICS-NICS 2021) also indicated that the region has one of the highest numbers of children not vaccinated against the child-killer diseases.
Data from the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASH NORM 2021) shows that four per cent of the population in Borno and two per cent in Yobe have access to safe portable water.
