The Civil Society-Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), Kaduna State Chapter, said recently that the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic could lead to serious malnutrition crisis in the state. The Coordinator, Mr. Silas Ideva gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna. He noted that the current lockdown to prevent spread of the virus has made it very difficult for poor households with children under five years to have access to quality food. He said that the state was already burdened with high rate of malnourished children among the 1.8 million estimated number of children under five years in the state. He pointed out that malnutrition situation in the state has remained malignant with very little progress as indicated by the National Health Demographic and Health Survey 2018. He said that according to the survey, stunting rate among children under five years improved by only 6.1 per cent in the state in five years, from 56.6 per cent in 2013 to 50.5 per cent in 2018. The coordinator said that three out of every 10 children under the age of five in the state were malnourished, adding that the development posed a great threat to economic development in the state. According to him, the lockdown has drastically reduced access to nutritious food, particularly in poor households, stressing that the development will further increase the number of malnourished children in the state. Daily Independent