The United Nations Children’s Fund has said 152, 243 children under the age of five years in Enugu State have stunted growth.

The Planning and Monitoring Specialist, UNICEF, Enugu Field Office, Mrs Maureen Zubie-Okolo, disclosed this in Enugu during a policy dialogue with the Enugu State Executive and Legislative Councils on Investment in Nutrition.

Zubie-Okolo attributed the poor state of nutrition to poor maternal, infant, and young child feeding practices during the first 1000 days.

“In Enugu State, only 7.8 per cent of children under five years receive the minimum acceptable diet while less than one-fifth of children between zero to five months are exclusively breastfed. This is a call for both the executive and legislative arms of the state government to come together to ensure that nutrition is placed on the agenda,” she said.

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She further said that malnutrition had become a silent emergency, and lamented that despite the unfortunate development, it was receiving little or no attention.

Zubie-Okolo said the meeting was in line with the Sustainable Development Goals agenda of ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030, added that the goal also included achieving the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under five years by 2025.