The federal government has been asked to take
urgent actions to support the scale-up of food and nutrition programmes
following the slow progress in addressing malnutrition and mortality amongst
women and children in the country.
The trends in the nutritional status of children
under-five in Nigeria showed proportion of children with stunted growth
declined from 42 per cent in 2003 to 37 per cent in 2013, but wasting and
underweight increased from 11 to 18 per cent and 24 to 29 per cent respectively
within the same period under review.
Disclosing this in Abuja, Program Manager, Civil
Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), Mr. Sunday Okoronkwo, said
that there was high level of micronutrient deficiency in children under-five
years in Nigeria with Vitamin A deficiency of 25 per cent and Iron deficiency
anemia among children 0-59 months at 19.4 per cent and 13 per cent among women
of reproductive age.
He said: “This program is meant to compare the
Nigerian situation to that of regional countries as well as to other countries
in other to make strategic points and recommendations.
“About 50 per cent of women have problems in
accessing healthcare and only 30 per cent of households nationally have access
to improved sanitation facilities. The rate of exclusive breastfeeding in
Nigeria is low at 25.2 per cent with only 33per cent of mothers initiating
breastfeeding within one hour of birth. Although, female’s primary school
completion rate indicates a slight steady increase, only a third of married
women participate in decision making. About 55 per cent of the population is
living below the national poverty line.
“There is the need to identify the trends in
child malnutrition and its determinants in Nigeria and in focal states of
Kaduna, Nasarawa and Niger. Indices of malnutrition are higher in Kaduna state.
This review was carried out through search literature, published research and
reports using Google search, principal data consulted are from Nigeria
Demographic and Health Surveys conducted from 1990 to 2013, National and Health
Survey 2014.”
He stressed further, that the group wants a
Nigeria where every citizen was food and nutrition secured and appealed to the
federal and states governments to increase local demand for appropriate
nutrition service delivery, track service provision and budget implementation.
“It is concluded that malnutrition in the country
and the three focal states are still very high. Addressing this scourge of
malnutrition requires strengthening ongoing cost-effective interventions with integration
of multi-sectoral efforts and mass recruitment of qualified nutritionists both
at States and Local Government Area levels through capacity building of
recruited staff,” he added
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