4 Million Children In North-East, North-West Suffering Malnutrition

The Federal Government has reported that over four million children in the Northeast and Northwest regions of the country are suffering from malnutrition.

Ladidi Bako-Aiyebusi, the Director of the Nutrition Department at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, disclosed this information on Wednesday during a five-day conference with nutrition experts and stakeholders in the Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

This meeting is being conducted in collaboration with Civil Society – Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) and other partners focused on nutrition, aiming to develop a strategic advocacy policy for nutrition in Nigeria.

The conference commenced on Tuesday and is scheduled to conclude on Saturday. Participants include nutrition specialists, academics, and representatives from civil society organizations, among others.

In her opening address, Bako-Aiyebusi emphasized that the purpose of the meeting is to establish policy directions that will support integrated, results-oriented advocacy concerning nutrition issues in Nigeria.

She further noted that Nigeria is currently grappling with a severe triple burden of malnutrition, characterized by widespread deficiencies in both macro and micronutrients, as well as undernutrition and overnutrition, all of which significantly affect health and socio-economic development.

She said: “In addition, the 2021 National Food Consumption and Micronutrient Survey report shows that nearly 4.4 million children in the North-East and North-West regions are malnourished. Identified causes of malnutrition include inadequate access to food, poor food consumption, improper feeding and caring practices, economic and political structures, low economic status, inadequate health-seeking behaviours and low level of education among the populace.”

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She emphasized that, on a global scale, advocacy has been recognized as an effective means of advancing the interests of individuals or circumstances, particularly when it is grounded in evidence, such as in the field of nutrition.

”Every other component of health needs to be promoted through evidence-based advocacy. This is why the Nutrition Department of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders is hosting this five-day meeting.

“It is for stakeholders to think through the process of developing a strategic document on effective ways to drive advocacy for nutrition in Nigeria putting Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation into consideration and every other nutrition component along the life cycle, leaving no one behind. It is believed that the National Advocacy Strategic approach will enhance collaboration, integration, capacity strengthening as well as develop an investment case for addressing nutrition in the health sector,” she added.

In a recent interview, Kunle Isola, Programme Officer at CS-SUNN, praised the ministry’s initiative, emphasizing that effective advocacy engagement requires adherence to specific steps.

This underscores the importance of CS-SUNN’s technical and financial support for the stakeholders meeting.

He elaborated that this support aims to empower participants to develop a robust nutrition advocacy document that could transform the narrative surrounding nutrition in Nigeria.

“If there is a way for it to go and it doesn’t go that way, don’t expect to see results. So having pushed issues of nutrition for years, we just felt that there is a need to channel a clear path for nutrition advocacy in the country. The essence of the meeting is to come up with elements that make effective advocacy on nutrition issues,” he said.

Also speaking, a participant, William Anyebe, said a lot of nutrition advocacy was going on but there wasn’t a document guiding the process hence the meeting to package a document on how to carry out nutrition advocacy in Nigeria.

He said, “Considering that malnutrition is a big issue in Nigeria, it is important to come up with a document that makes it very clear so that all persons involved in the advocacy for improved nutrition are properly guided.’’

Another contributor, Prof. Salisu Abubakar, Vice Chairman of the National Nutrition Technical Working Group, emphasized that the document will serve as a valuable resource for nutrition advocates, providing guidance on effective integration of advocacy efforts to enhance collaboration, ultimately leading to improved funding and service delivery.

He further noted that the strategy document will address innovative approaches to combat undernutrition in rural regions and overnutrition in urban settings.