469 Children Die From Malnutrition in Kano in Six Months
No fewer than 469 children died from malnutrition in Kano State between January and July 2025, highlighting the ongoing threat poor nutrition poses to child survival in the region.
Professor Ruqayya Aliyu Yusuf of Bayero University Kano’s Department of Information and Media Studies disclosed this while presenting a paper titled “Understanding the Basics of Behavioural Change: Towards Improving Malnutrition in Kano State” at a media sensitisation training.
She stated that malnutrition and poor dietary practices remain major public health challenges in Kano, noting that Nigeria continues to perform poorly on the Global Nutrition Index.
Citing 2025 UNICEF reports, Professor Yusuf revealed that about 40 per cent of Nigerian children under five are stunted, with the figure rising to 51.9 per cent in Kano.
According to her, poverty, food insecurity, poor dietary habits, and inadequate health awareness among caregivers drive the high burden of malnutrition.
Also speaking at the event, crop scientist Amina Ado Yahaya said Kano has the highest prevalence of underweight children under five, with 42.6 per cent affected.
She emphasised the need for localised interventions, such as homestead vegetable gardening, to improve household nutrition.
Yahaya further noted that Vitamin A deficiency remains a leading cause of childhood blindness and exacerbates common infections like measles and diarrhoea, thereby increasing child mortality in the state.
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