At least 469 children died from malnutrition between January and July 2025 in Kano State, while more than half of children in the state are stunted, experts have said. Professor Ruqayya Aliyu Yusuf of the Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University Kano (BUK), disclosed this while presenting a paper on behavioural change and malnutrition at a media sensitisation training. Citing 2025 UNICEF reports, she said 51.9 per cent of children in Kano are stunted, compared to the national average of about 40 per cent among children under five.
Professor Yusuf described malnutrition and poor dietary practices as Kano’s most pressing public health challenges, noting that the problem persists despite Nigeria’s poor ranking on the Global Nutrition Index. She attributed the crisis to poverty, food insecurity, unhealthy feeding habits and inadequate health awareness. Also speaking, crop scientist Amina Ado Yahaya said Kano has the highest prevalence of underweight children under five in the country, at 42.6 per cent, and called for localised solutions such as homestead vegetable gardening to improve household nutrition.