The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has predicted that in Nigeria, children born in 2019 may not live beyond the year 2074. This was contained in a statement issued by UNICEF Nigeria’s Communication Specialist, Eva Hinds.
Hinds described Nigeria’s performance on the global life expectancy index for children as comparatively unimpressive, noting that a child born this year in Denmark is likely to live until the 2100’s.
According to the UNICEF expert, Nigeria has the fourth worst life expectancy in Africa, only performing better than Central African Republic, Chad and Sierra Leone.
She noted that while an estimated 25,685 babies were expected to be born in Nigeria on New Year’s Day, an average of 257 children who are still within their first month of life were equally expected to die every day in the country.
She attributed this situation to preventable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery, and infections like sepsis and pneumonia, a violation of their basic right to survival.
While also ,
“We can and must do more to ensure that children born in Nigeria survive their first day of life, and are able to survive and thrive for many months and years to come.
Ms. Hinds, quoting Pernille Ironside, UNICEF’s Acting Representative in Nigeria
“In Nigeria today, only one out of every three babies is delivered in a health centre, decreasing a newborn baby’s chance of survival. This is just one of the issues that need to be addressed in order to improve the chances of survival of those babies born today and every day.
She made case for a resolution to fulfill every right of every child, starting with the right to survive.
“We can save millions of babies if we invest in training and equipping local health workers so that every newborn is born into a safe pair of hands,” she said.