CHALLENGES OF NUTRITION IN NIGERIA, A WAY FORWARD

It cannot be disputed that nutrition is very essential for good health and it promotes a healthy lifestyle. Despite these known facts, malnutrition, especially in children is a major challenge in Nigeria. Malnutrition is a condition that occurs when people consistently do not consume or absorb the right amounts and types of food and essential nutrients.

Malnutrition among Nigerian children is a serious problem throughout the country. Each year about 1 million Nigerian children die before their 5th birthday (New York: UN, 2013). Malnutrition contributes to nearly half of these deaths. Almost 30 percent of Nigerian children are underweight, meaning they don’t weigh enough for their age and the rates of stunting in Nigeria have stagnated for more than a decade (Calverton, MD: ICF International, 2009). About 2 in 5 Nigerian children are stunted, with rates of stunting varying throughout the country. This is more than double the proportion of neighboring Ghanaian children who are underweight.

Malnutrition in children can be prevented during the 1,000 days —from the start of a woman’s pregnancy until her child’s 2nd birthday (this represents a critical window of opportunity). Adequate nutrition during this period can avert malnutrition, ensuring that children have the best possible opportunity to grow, learn, and rise out of poverty. When nutrition is not optimized during the 1,000-day window, the effects are often irreversible.

Malnutrition also has adverse effects on women. The low status of women, poor maternal nutrition, inadequate prenatal care, and the disproportionate burden of physical labor borne by mothers are some of the greatest impediments to improving nutritional status. When discrimination against women is prevalent, so is poor nutrition, regardless of economic growth. Each year, the rate at which women die during pregnancy and childbirth increases rapidly. When the mother of a newborn infant dies, the child's chances of survival are significantly reduced (SOWC, 2002). Also, as many as 50 percent of pregnant women suffer from iron deficiency anemia, and these women may give birth to premature or low birth weight infants who have inadequate iron stores, hence, are at greater risk of infection, weakened immunity, learning disabilities, impaired physical development and, in severe cases, death.

In addition, one-third of malnutrition is caused by improper infant and young child feeding. The good news is that breastfeeding rates are no longer decreasing, but have increased, from 1990 when 34 percent of infants were being exclusively breastfed for the first six months, to 39 percent today. While some gains were made in the duration of breastfeeding, poor infant feeding practices are still widespread, many mothers do not continue breastfeeding for the recommended two years or longer, instead, they replace breast milk with substitutes.

Formula feeding is an expensive, not nutritionally equivalent, and often dangerous alternative to breast milk, particularly in unhygienic environments. Studies indicate that a bottle-fed child living in poverty is up to 14 times as likely to die of diarrhea and four times more likely to die of pneumonia than an exclusively breastfed infant. Research confirmed that many mothers do not understand the importance of exclusive breastfeeding and that even giving water to a baby under six months old can lead to illnesses and malnutrition.

Are there solutions to these problems affecting our country, Nigeria? YES!!!

Taking action to address the root causes of malnutrition is the key to reducing the staggeringly high rate of malnutrition in Nigeria. To combat these challenges, every Nigerian has a role to play in the actualization of adequate nutrition in Nigeria.

Mothers should put babies to the breast in the first half hour after birth and breastfeed them exclusively for the first six months without any other foods or liquids — not even one drop of water! After the first 6 months of life, mothers should start giving their children sufficient quantities of a variety of healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, and meat, along with continued breastfeeding for up to 2 years or beyond. Mothers and children should be ensured access to essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Women should be encouraged to attend health facilities for antenatal and postnatal care where they can be given guidance on how to best feed their children, especially the most vulnerable children under two years old.

Husbands, families, and community members, including traditional and religious leaders, all have a role to play. They should be informed about how best to encourage and support women to breastfeed exclusively and to feed children under two years old appropriately. Communities should be educated about problems associated with harmful traditional feeding practices that can reduce an infant’s growth and development, and messages on good feeding practices should be carried out on the radio and television programs. Efforts should be made to stop discrimination against women, which is rampant in our society today.

Awareness should be raised about Nigeria’s silent crisis of malnutrition. Programs that use proven strategies to reduce malnutrition should be funded or implemented. Preventing malnutrition should be a matter addressed at a wider level than present, involving coordination with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, and Ministry of Water Resources. This can be done by reaching out to colleagues in these sectors, including finance and education. Also, every opportunity to integrate nutrition into national policies should be taken and advocate for an adequate and dedicated budget line for nutrition at the national, state, and local government levels in all sectors.

If the above steps and actions are taken, I believe that the rate of malnutrition will decrease, thereby reducing the rate of death in Nigeria. It will also help to achieve and maintain optimal nutrition for all Nigerians either rich or poor.