71% of Nigerian children not breastfed exclusively — REPORT

Despite the fact that Nigeria made progress in the reduction of infant mortality among others in the 2018 National Demographic Health Survey, NDHS, only 29 per cent of Nigerian children are exclusively breastfed. The report also disclosed that Nigeria still parades an unenviable rate of 67 deaths per 1,000 live births and ranks among five countries in the world with the highest number of under-five deaths. The survey further showed that while infant mortality reduced from 75 percent deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008 to 67 deaths per 1000 live births, in 2018, the number of neonatal deaths remained unchanged, meaning that there is a probability of a Nigerian neonatal dying within the first month or first birthday. Unveiling the report during a two-day media dialogue in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, organised by the Child Rights Information Bureau and the Federal Ministry of Information, UNICEF Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Maureen Zubie-Okolo said Infant mortality was still high.

Although the report noted a slight increase in exclusive breastfeeding with 12 percent, Zubie-Okolo said the figures rose from 17 percent in 2013 to 29 percent in 2018. She lamented that despite the increase Nigeria still lags behind from the global target of 50 percent. The UNICEF Specialist, however, disclosed that 97 percent of children were breastfed in both 2008 and 2018. “The percentage of children who started breastfeeding within one hour of birth has increased by nine percentage points since 2013, from 33 percent to 42 percent while the percentage who started breastfeeding within 1 day has increased from 65 percent to 82 percent since 2008.” Continuing, she said the 2018 NDHS revealed that under 5 mortality was 132 deaths per 1,000 live births, implying that more than 1 in 8 children in Nigeria dies before their 5th birthday.