At least 469 children died from malnutrition between January and July, 2025, in Kano State, while 51.9 per cent of children are stunted.

Professor Ruqayya Aliyu Yusuf of the Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University Kano (BUK), disclosed this while presenting a paper, titled: “Understanding the Basics of Behavioural Change: Towards Improving Malnutrition in Kano State”, at a media sensitisation training.

She said malnutrition and poor dietary practices remained the biggest challenge in Kano, even as Nigeria was ranked high on the Global Nutrition Index.

The don said 40 per cent of children under 5 in Nigeria were stunted and about 51.9 per cent of children in Kano were stunted, quoting 2025 UNICEF reports.

Expressing worry over the development, the lecturer said, “The burden of malnutrition is driven by poverty, food insecurity, poor dietary habits and inadequate health alerts.”

A crop scientist, Amina Ado Yahaya, said Kano had the highest underweight prevalence in children under 5, with 42.6 per cent, a situation that demanded localised homestead vegetable gardening to improve nutrition.

She explained that Vitamin A deficiency was a leading cause of childhood blindness and increased severity of common infections like measles and diarrhoea.