November 22, (THEWILL) — The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reiterated its commitment to the welfare and protection of children in Nigeria.
Michael Juma, UNICEF Chief Field Officer in Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara, stated while speaking to journalists as part of activities marking World Children’s Day.
He said the commemoration reflects the UN agency’s efforts to date in addressing the needs of children in the country.
“We have increased access to healthcare services, where at the moment we have 18,000 households, including children under 5, receiving free medical services with support from UNICEF.”
He said the agency has also intensified surveillance on zero-dose noncompliance on immunisation and managed to vaccinate no fewer than 1.5 million children in the October round of vaccinations.
“We have also made a lot of progress in terms of establishing a Special newborn care unit for children born out of low birth weight and position at the specialist hospital in Sokoto, benefiting over 1 million sick newborn children.
“In nutrition, we have provided vitamin A supplementation to 3.4 million children across the state, and also 285 children who are facing severe malnutrition are receiving ready-to-use therapeutic feeding with a recovery rate of 95 percent”, he further explained.
He commended the Sokoto state government for contributing N100 million to the child nutrition fund, which UNICEF will match to procure high-impact nutrition supplies at the state level.
“We are currently working with the Ministry of Education at the state level in terms of identification and re-enrolment, which will in itself address this challenge.”
Tunde Omolehin is an award-winning Journalist with prose in investigative and storytelling that is connecting the dots between the under-reported communities and policymakers to ensure good governance and accountability.
