…UNICEF harps on implementation of nutrition policies, programmes
UNICEF
By Hassan Zaggi
Seven-years-old Aminu, a primary three pupils at Doruwa village in Nasarawa state, has repeated a class. His performance in academic activity, according to his teacher, is far below average.
He struggles to understand almost everything taught to the class. His height is also far below children of his age. His teacher expressed pessimism that he may not still pass his examination to the next class due to his abysmal performance.
Speaking to our correspondent, the teacher said that if Aminu did not pass his next promotion examination, he will advise his parents to take him to where he can learn a trade.
A close examination of Aminu’s case by experts revealed that it is a case of lack of adequate nutrition when Aminu was younger.
Responding to questions on the condition and what will be the fate of Aminu, a nutritionists, Aisha Yusuf, said that there is little that can be done to help young Aminu because his situation is irreversible, hence, does not have remedy.
According to her, child malnutrition starts from when the child is in the womb.
She explained that the first 1000 days of a child beginning from conception are crucial to the development of the brain and the entire life of the child.
“When this window of nutrition opportunity from conception to the child’s second birth day to improve the life of the child is missed, there is little that can be done to assist the child. It will be hard to reverse to situation,” she explained.
This is the situation faced by most Nigerian children as millions of them are said the to be suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
Speaking at a 2-day media dialogue organised by the Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB) of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in collaboration with the United Nation Children Fund (UNICEF), in Enugu, recently, the UNICEF Nutrition Officer in Nigeria, Nkeiruka Enwelum, revealed that poor nutrition in the 1,000 days from conception of a child to 2 years of age results in permanent damage.
She further warned that failure to prevent and treat malnutrition can result in long term cognitive and growth impacts, loss of income for households and up to 15% GDP loss for Nigeria and increased morbidity and potential death.
The Nutritionist revealed that 25 million people in Nigeria are hungry, 14.5 million people
suffer from Acute Food Insecurity and that Nigeria ranked number one in Africa and
number two in the world in terms of
number of children malnourished.
The media dialogue was on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how it affects the rights of the child.
Nkeiruka, therefore, said that the implementation of nutrition policies and programmes by the governments at all levels is the only sure way to prevent malnutrition in the country.
According to her: “We talked about the strengthening of accountability for the nutrition implementation of policies and programmes in the country.
“We do have policies, now the push is for us to develop concerted efforts as governments, partners, stakeholders and members of the media to come all hands on deck and implement these policies that we have developed.”
Speaking on the consequences of child malnutrition, the UNICEF Nutrition Officer said that 45% of all child deaths is from poor nutrition.
She continued that other consequences of the malnutrition include impaired brain development and lower IQ, low birth weight, premature death, lost productivity and increased healthcare cost, weakened immune system leading to risk of infectious diseases and risk of diabetes, cancer, stroke and other non-communicable diseases.
Nkeiruka further said: “It is said that an undernourished country is a poor country because of the linkages between good nutrition and economic productivity.
“Also malnutrition is also associated with lost productivity, increased susceptibility to diseases and high prevalent of infant mortality and most lost man-hour due to unproductivity.
“All of these consequently will lead to loss of gross domestic product of the country which is why it is said that a malnourished country is a poor country.”
