18 CHILDREN DIE EVERY HOUR IN NIGERIA – SAVE THE CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL

Child mortality rate in Nigeria has been a thing of great concern to many. The Save the Children International has stated that 19% of child mortality in Nigeria is caused by pneumonia.

It stated that 18 children died in every one hour.

This was stated by the chief party for the Inspiring project, Dr. Adamu Isah at the official handing over of oxygen cylinders to the pediatric ward of Dutse General Hospital in Jigawa state.

He said pneumonia had been identified as the most killer disease, claiming the lives of children

more than any other disease in Nigeria, with an estimated 162,000 deaths in 2019, 443 deaths per day, and 18 children in every hour, according to the Inspiring Situation Analysis Report.

According to the report, in Jigawa State alone, no fewer than 14,988 cases of pneumonia are recorded annually, due to the high level of ignorance on the part of caregivers, and non non-existence of policy to fight it.

“Even though there is no available data on the number of children that died as a result of pneumonia, it was proved that less than 31.4% of caregivers in the state knows the sign of the disease,” he said.

Adamu, however, stated that the project had spent over N18million for the procurement of oxygen cylinders, and personal protection equipment against Covid-19 in Jigawa State.

He said the Inspiring project, under the Save the Children program, funded by GSK was piloted in two local government areas, one each from Lagos and Jigawa States, aimed at addressing children killer diseases.