No fewer than 1,220 communities in Borno and Yobe are certified Open Defecation-Free, ODF, under the United Kingdom-funded Multi-sectoral Integrated Nutrition Action for Children, Women and Adolescents in Northeast Nigeria, MINA, project.
Francis Butichi, UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Borno, disclosed this on Monday in Damaturu at a media dialogue and reporting challenge organised for journalists in North-east Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the achievement, recorded between October 2023 and March 2026, is part of efforts to improve sanitation, prevent diseases and promote better nutrition and health outcomes among children, women and adolescents in the states.
Butichi said the ODF certification marked a significant milestone in implementing MINA, which adopted an integrated approach to addressing malnutrition and its underlying causes.
He said that poor sanitation, unsafe water and inadequate hygiene practices were among the factors contributing to malnutrition and preventable diseases among children.
According to him, the MINA project recognises that addressing acute malnutrition requires more than the provision of therapeutic foods, hence its integration of nutrition, maternal and child health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), social behaviour change, gender-based violence prevention and child protection services.
He noted that the achievement reflected the importance of community participation and sustained behavioural change in promoting healthy living conditions.
Butichi said the project had also supported 14,117 vulnerable women with cash transfers in Yobe to improve their children’s dietary choices.
He added that 219,677 new admissions of children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) were supported through outpatient and inpatient treatment.
According to him, more than 1.6 million children aged six to 59 months received vitamin A supplementation, while 1,019,661 children below 24 months received measles-1 vaccination through routine immunisation in the two states.
The UNICEF official said the interventions had contributed to improved nutrition, healthcare, sanitation and protection outcomes for vulnerable children and women.
He described the media reporting challenge as an advocacy platform to sustain the gains recorded under the MINA project and encourage policymakers to institutionalise its successful interventions.
