FG Laments Stunted Growth Among Children

THE Federal Government has expressed concern over increasing cases of stunted growth among children, now put at about 20 percent prevalence in some states of the federation.In fact, the 12 states of the North West and North East geo-political zone are said to be worst hit. Twenty two percent of children born in those areas suffer stunted growth due to acute shortage of protein, some before birth while others occurred after birth.The 22 percent prevalence rate in those two zones is said to have surpassed the 10 percent United Nations record to warrant the declaration of a state of emergency in the affected areas.The leader of Sorghum Transformation Value Chain (STVC) team, Prof Babatunde Obilana disclosed this when he led his team to the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), Lagos to seek the assistance of the institute in researching sorghum-based food products that could improve the growth of stunted children and help reduce the prevalence.Prof Obilana said President Goodluck Jonathan is worried by this high prevalence case because of its direct adverse effects which often results in high rate of school drop outs or non-attendance of school at all by many.According to him, children in the category were responsible for the increasing growth in the population of the Almajiris with potential social danger they constitute.The team, which is a sub-team of President Jonathan's Transformation Agenda, was received by Dr. Patrick Irabor, Director, Project Development and Design on behalf of FIIRO's Director-General, Dr. Gloria Elemo.Obilama who urged FIIRO to without delay step up research in this direction, assured the institute of instant support by both the Federal Government and the 12 governments in the two zones.Responding, Dr. Irabor expressed delight that the Federal Government considered FIIRO capable of helping to curb the problem and pledged that the institute would live up to expectation.He said apart from sorghum, FIIRO has also successfully carried out researches in other areas which are available for use by entrepreneurs.
Click here to read full news..