Lack Of Nutrition May Render 13 Percent Of Nigerian Kids With Mental Deformity – Expert

A professor emeritus, Babatunde Oguntona has warned that no fewer than 13 per cent of Nigerian children risk growing up with mental deformity unless proper iodine is made part of their nutrition.
Professor Oguntona, who called on government to pay greater attention to public health, said: “if we don’t keep iodine level properly, we’ll have 13% of Nigerian children mentally deformed.”
Speaking at the weekend in Lagos at a one-day Nutrition Symposium on ‘Malnutrition,  Child Development and the Media’ organised by the Media Centre Against Child Malnutrition (MeCAM), Professor Oguntona said: “imagine 13 percent of parliamentarians mentally deformed. Inadequate iodine in our food is a serious threat. You can’t talk of development when you ignore the issue of nutrition status of your people.”
He expressed displeasure over the poor way the Nigerian authorities respond to the threats of malnutrition.
Oguntona, who was a former President of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, said between 13 and 18 Nigerians children die of malnutrition and related diseases every hours and called on the media to step up advocacy on the issue.
That was even as an official of the Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network | Global Alliance on Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Ivy Ibiso KingHarry, said that the media has a duty to promote messages on nutrition, saying that it is an influencer and change agent.
She recommended that media efforts should flow from proper understanding of the science of nutrition and effective delivery of messages in language understood by common people.
She advised news men to always cross-check and scrutinize official data on malnutrition, and be consistent to build trust in their duty as gatekeepers.[myad]