The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently ranked Nigeria as the country with the highest prevalence of malnutrition in Africa and the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 32 per cent of children under five. It also revealed that about 2million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), but only 2 out of every 10 children affected is currently reached with treatment. The UN agency disclosed that 7 per cent of women of childbearing age suffer from acute malnutrition in Nigeria. The staggering number of malnourished children poses a significant public health challenge for the country if left unchecked.
According to UNICEF, Northern states are the most affected by the two forms of malnutrition – stunting and wasting. Medically, stunting could lead to death and is linked to poor cognitive development, a lowered performance in education and low productivity in adulthood. All this contributes to economic losses estimated to account for as much as 11 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Statistics show that 46 per cent of Nigerians are children under the age of 15. Out of this number, 17 million are said to be malnourished. This is unacceptable. Moreover, it has the material and human resources to feed its citizens.
The government and the Nutrition International recently acknowledged the danger posed by this frightening health statistics. During the home fortification implementation research deploying Small Quantity Lipid-based Nutrient Supplements (SQLNS) in Abuja, stakeholders pointed out that the major causes of malnutrition in Nigeria included poor infant and child feeding practices, poor access to and consumption of safe nutritious diet rich in both macro and micronutrients. Others are inadequate access to healthcare, water, and sanitation, and a high level of poverty.
It is good that the government has made a concerted effort in collaboration with development partners to reduce the burden of malnutrition in the country. We recommend that integrated community outreach clinics must be upgraded across the country with the capacity and acceptability to distribute multiple micronutrient powders and other nutrition commodities to vulnerable Nigerian children. With food insecurity in the country and unprecedented hyperinflation, it has become increasingly difficult for the average Nigerian family to feed three times a day. It is more cumbersome for poor families and those affected by insurgency and communal crises. These underlying causes of malnutrition must be urgently addressed.
The high concentration of these children in the north is an indictment on the various state governments and the federal government. The figure ought to have improved since malnutrition has been with us for decades. The high level of malnutrition in the country has implication for school attendance and overall development of young children. Malnutrition impacts on the cognitive abilities of children.
John Hopkins University has stated that malnourished children may be short for their age, thin or bloated, listless and have weakened immune systems. Nutritional disorders, in addition, can affect any system in the body and the senses of sight, taste and smell. They may also produce anxiety, changes in mood and other psychiatric symptoms. This should not be the fate of millions of Nigeria’s malnourished children.
The government and UNICEF should work together and implement the National Plan of Action on Food and Nutrition. Nutrition must be fully integrated into all aspects of the Primary Health Care (PHC) system. Good enough, UNICEF has been supporting Nigeria’s community-based programme for treatment of severe acute malnutrition since 2009 and has become one of the largest UNICEF-supported treatment programmes in the world. Unfortunately, 17million Nigerian children are still malnourished.
The ministry of health should do more by counselling mothers and caregivers on how to feed their children, and by providing free micronutrient supplements to children and pregnant women. We call on the government to increase the health budget to effectively address malnutrition in Nigeria. The security lapses in the country that have contributed to the recurring farmer-herder clashes should be urgently fixed. With many families displaced, feeding for their children has become daunting.
Let the government address terrorism ravaging parts of the country. Malnourished children in the country deserve urgent attention to avert the looming national disaster. UNICEF said the first 1000 days of a child’s life is the best moment to prevent under-nutrition and its tragic consequences. Therefore, specific feeding programmes targeting vulnerable children in affected regions should also be initiated.