A non-profit coalition, made up of organizations with a shared vision to transform Nigeria into a country where food and nutrition is secured has called on the federal government and stake holders to take urgent actions to support the scale-up of food and nutrition in Nigeria.
The Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) presently reviewing the status of malnutrition in Nigeria with three focal states, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Niger said at a workshop recently in Abuja that it was drawing attention to the unacceptable level of nutrition and stunted children.
Dr. Yinka Adekugbe, an Advocacy Adviser with the Save the Children group who addressed reporters at the workshop said “nutrition is a collective responsibility, though the government is doing a lot but more needs to be done to achieve the target goal of nutrition”.
The group further stated that the current level of malnutrition has to be reduced by increasing dietary nutrient intakes through locally available nutrient, and there should be development plans to help farmers grow diverse, nutrient-dense family homestead farms.
According to Dr. Kola Anigo of the Ahmadu Bello University “poor maternal nutrition is one of the factors responsible for intra-uterine growth restriction and low birth weight as young children’s nutrition depends critically on the nutrition status of their mothers during pregnancy and lactation.
The group again, lamented that malnutrition in the country and the focal states is still high, especially with children under five which declined from 42% in 2003 to 37% in 2013. While wasting and underweight increased from 11 to 18, and 24 to 29 respectively within the same period.
