74 Per Cent Of Jigawa Children Multi-Dimensionally Poor, Says UNICEF

The United Nations Children's Education Fund (UNICEF) says about 74 per cent of children in Jigawa State are multi-dimensionally poor.

This was disclosed by the Chief of UNICEF Kano Field Office (KFO), comprising Kano, Katsina and Jigawa, Rahma Farah at the launching of the state’s 2022 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in Dutse on Thursday.

“Today, we have gathered in Jigawa to launch the findings and results of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 6) for the Jigawa State.

“This MICS survey was carried out in 2021 and the results are released in August 2022.

“MICS is a survey carried out at the household level to provide statistically sound and comparable data on key development indicators related to children, women and vulnerable groups in the society.”

Farah added that in the Northwest of Nigeria, almost all states are having multi-dimensional poverty rates higher than the national average.

According to him, about 65 per cent of Northwest children are multi-dimensionally poor.

Farha, however, added that among KFO states, Jigawa had the worst child deprivation rate as 73.9 per cent of children in the state were multi-dimensionally poor.

“Most children in Jigawa are deprived of their basic rights for survival, protection and development.

“The MICS results in 2021 for Jigawa State reveal that while the state has made significant progress in some indicators, there are still indicators that either did not improve (such as the case of child birth registration) or are still below the national averages such as the under-five mortality rate.

“For example in health, Jigawa has the highest under-five mortality, compared to the other two states of the Kano Field Office – with  70 points more than the national average,” he said.

Farha further stated that in spite of the high under-five mortality, from 2011 to 2021, the state (Jigawa) reduced its under-five mortality by 37 per cent, a substantial progress that needed to be continued and sustained.

He stressed the continuous need for effective health and nutrition interventions to reduce under-five children’s deaths by carefully analysing and addressing the underlying and contributing causes that precipitated them.