The Kaduna State Nutrition Officer (SNO), Ramatu Musa, has said that a total of 30,089 children across all 23 local government areas (LGAs) in the state were successfully treated for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in 2025.
Musa, represented by Jibril Isah, disclosed this on Tuesday in Kaduna while presenting the “State of Nutrition in Kaduna” at a one-day meeting with the First Lady of Kaduna State and spouses of the 23 LGA chairmen. The meeting was organized to strengthen advocacy, leadership commitment, and resource mobilization for effective nutrition interventions at the grassroots level.
She said the achievement was made possible through the state’s Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) services. Musa added that 60,193 children with SAM were admitted across the 23 LGAs in 2025.
According to Musa, Nigeria recorded worsening malnutrition trends between 2018 and 2024, with stunting rising from 37 to 40 per cent, wasting from seven to eight per cent, and underweight from 22 to 27 per cent, while overweight declined from two to one per cent.
She said Kaduna State, with a stunting rate of 40.7 per cent according to the 2023/2024 National Demographic and Health Survey, performed best in the North-West, outperforming neighboring states. However, she noted that the burden of malnutrition remained high and required sustained investment.
Musa explained that stunting in the state declined from 48.1 to 40.7 per cent, showing progress in reducing chronic malnutrition, while wasting increased from 4.8 to 5.9 per cent and underweight rose from 22.1 to 24.7 per cent, indicating worsening acute malnutrition.
She said IMAM interventions focused on early identification through regular screening, treatment, and rehabilitation of children with SAM in specialized centres, alongside community engagement through awareness campaigns and support groups.
The SNO identified major challenges, including low activity of nutrition steering committees chaired by wives of LGA chairmen, inadequate funding for nutrition activities at state and LGA levels, lack of ownership and commitment to community nutrition services, and limited IMAM coverage, with only 64 per cent of wards providing services.
Musa recommended strengthening LGA steering committees through technical support and regular meetings, improving leadership engagement via performance reviews and nutrition scorecards, securing dedicated state and LGA financing, and scaling up IMAM services to uncovered wards.
Earlier, the Commissioner of Planning and Budget, Mr Mukhtar Ahmed, said the meeting aimed to update the spouses’ knowledge and skills on advocacy and resource mobilization, increase their understanding of child malnutrition, clarify their roles in combating malnutrition, and secure their commitment to prioritizing nutrition as part of human capital development.
He noted that sustainable nutrition impact is best achieved when communities are fully engaged, adding that wives of political leaders are uniquely positioned to influence households and champion nutrition within grassroots governance structures. Ahmed highlighted the procurement of 12,000 cartons of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) by the state government, with 1,000 cartons already delivered, as a demonstration of commitment to improving nutrition outcomes.
The Commissioner for Health Umma Ahmed, reiterated the governor’s commitment to addressing malnutrition, noting that the allocation of N1.1 billion to nutrition interventions aims to ensure that no woman dies during childbirth and no child dies before age five from preventable causes linked to malnutrition. She called on the spouses to support the First Lady, the governor, and the Ministry of Health to ensure RUTF reaches the intended beneficiaries and warned against diversion of the commodities.
The Commissioner for Youths Development, Gloria Ibrahim, stressed that addressing malnutrition is a collective responsibility and urged communities to revive shared caregiving values. She encouraged spouses to educate both women and men in their LGAs on proper child nutrition practices.
Dr Zainab Muhammad-Idris, Project Manager of Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRIN) 2.0, outlined the roles of the First Lady and LGA spouses in championing nutrition. She said the First Lady is expected to advocate for dedicated nutrition budgets, mobilize resources, support the State Nutrition Council, lead advocacy campaigns, and promote maternal nutrition and breastfeeding. LGA spouses are expected to mobilize communities, strengthen linkages with primary healthcare facilities, promote growth monitoring, support IMAM referrals, engage traditional and faith leaders, and provide feedback on service gaps.
Priority actions identified include early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding, appropriate complementary feeding, maternal nutrition, routine growth monitoring, vitamin A supplementation, deworming, early detection and treatment of acute malnutrition, and nutrition-sensitive WASH interventions. Muhammad-Idris also highlighted community-level actions such as establishing mothers’ support groups, organizing nutrition dialogues and cooking demonstrations, promoting local food production, encouraging male engagement, using local media, and strengthening monitoring, accountability, and sustainability mechanisms.
Ms Jessica Bartholomew, State Coordinator of Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), presented the Child Nutrition Fund and six months paid maternity leave as opportunities to improve nutrition outcomes. She said Kaduna State mobilized over N2.9 billion in blended financing between 2023 and 2025 through strong political leadership, partner alignment, and results-based investment, commending the state for improvements in malnutrition indices and adoption of six months paid maternity leave.
Responding, the First Lady of Kaduna State, Hafsat Uba-Sani, pledged continued support for nutrition programmes, assuring stakeholders of sustained advocacy, collaboration, and community engagement to improve the wellbeing of women and children across all LGAs.
