The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in partnership with the UK Government is set to empower over 300,000 mothers and caregivers in the northeast.
In a press release by UNICEF, the project is an humanitarian intervention focused on providing integrated food, nutrition sanitation and protection services in the north-east region to empower over 300,000 mothers and caregivers.
The intervention was designed to enhance dietary practices, home-based malnutrition screening skills, provision of high impact lifesaving nutrition interventions (such as early identification and referral of acute malnutrition cases for treatment), and micronutrients supplementation to prevent infections among children.
According to them, the interventions were aimed at improving the survival of children affected by conflict.
The project which is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK Government, the Multisectoral Integrated Nutrition Action (MINA) project is being implemented by UNICEF and other partners in 24 Local Government Areas of Borno and Yobe states till March 2025.
According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey and National Immunization Coverage Survey (MICS-NICS 2021), with approximately 1 in 4 children aged 12-23 months not vaccinated, the north-east region has one of the highest numbers of unvaccinated children in Nigeria.
Data from the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASH NORM 2021) also showed that four per cent of the population in Borno and two per cent in Yobe have access to safely managed drinking water.
It revealed that up to 1.1 million people across the region still practice open defecation, a risk factor for malnutrition and stunting in children.
The project leverages a bouquet of essential services and community structures to provide integrated essential services for children, including birth registration and immunization services, nutrition counselling, cash transfer support, establishment of vegetable gardens, market -based sanitation and hygiene interventions, mothers’ groups, nutrition mobilisers and WASH Committees.
Speaking on the project, UNICEF representative in Nigeria, Cristian Munduate said; “The first 1000 days of life of a child is an unmatched window of opportunity.
“UNICEF is grateful for the support of the FCDO to invest early in the lives of some of the most vulnerable children in the world.
“It is heartwarming that through the capacity building and empowerment approach of this project, thousands of children will benefit from this intervention in the long term,” the statement read.