No fewer than 469 children died from malnutrition between January and July 2025 in Kano State, a report has revealed.
The report also showed that 51.9 per cent of children in the state are stunted, far above the national average.
The revelation was made by a lecturer in the Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University, Kano, Prof. Ruqayya Aliyu Yusuf, while presenting a paper titled “Understanding the Basics of Behavioural Change: Towards Improving Malnutrition in Kano State” at a media sensitisation training.
Yusuf said malnutrition and poor dietary practices remained major challenges confronting the state, adding that Nigeria ranked high on the Global Nutrition Index.
She disclosed that about 40 per cent of children under the age of five in Nigeria were stunted, noting that Kano recorded a higher prevalence of 51.9 per cent, according to 2025 UNICEF reports.
Expressing concern, she said, “The burden of malnutrition is driven by poverty, food insecurity, poor dietary habits, and inadequate health awareness.”
Also speaking, a crop scientist, Amina Ado Yahaya, said Kano had the highest prevalence of underweight children under five years in the country, put at 42.6 per cent.
She said the situation required urgent interventions, including localised homestead vegetable gardening, to improve household nutrition across the state.
Yahaya added that Vitamin A deficiency remained a leading cause of childhood blindness and increased the severity of common childhood infections such as measles and diarrhoea.
