A global report released by United Nations Children Emergency Fund, UNICEF, on Tuesday has ranked Nigeria among the 12 countries hardest hit by food and nutrition crises.

The other countries that represent the epicenter of a global nutrition crisis are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen.

UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell, said the nutrition crisis is pushing millions of mothers and their children into hunger and severe malnutrition and without urgent action from the international community, the consequences could last for generations to come.

He said over 12 million children under five are stunted, meaning they are too short for their age due to malnutrition. Of those, about half become stunted during pregnancy and the first six months of life.

Russell added that to prevent under nutrition in children, we must also address malnutrition in adolescent girls and women.