ADDRESSING THE MALNUTRITION CHALLENGE

The authorities should do more to contain the food crisis

Since food is needed for survival and well-being, there is a need for urgent intervention to avert a human catastrophe in the country. With the fear of malnutrition for millions of children (and mothers) who are deprived of a healthy and productive life, the situation is already dire, especially in the northern part of the country where the main contributing factors to acute malnutrition include low food consumption and poor health behaviours, according to the federal ministry of health and social welfare. “Other factors that lead to acute malnutrition include banditry and population displacement, as well as insecurity limiting access to vulnerable population,” the Director and Head, Nutrition Department of the ministry, Ladidi Bako-Aiyegbusi added.

Earlier in the year, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and its partners had predicted that many Nigerians would face severe food insecurity or hunger this year. Medicines Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders), had also revealed that it had in the last one year recorded a 100 per cent increase in the number of malnourished children with life-threatening complications in the North. While we commend the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, for his efforts in tackling the challenge, we urge him to mobilise stakeholders in both the public and private sectors.

 For instance, MSF has raised the alarm about the urgency of the situation in Nigeria. “Everyone needs to step in to save lives and allow the children of northern Nigeria to grow free from malnutrition and its disastrous long-term, if not fatal, consequences,” said MSF Country Representative, Simbia Tirima, who disclosed that because its facilities are full, they are laying patients on mattresses. “We’ve been warning about the worsening malnutrition crisis for the last two years. While 2022 and 2023 were critical, an even grimmer picture is unfolding in 2024. We can’t keep repeating these catastrophic scenarios year after year. What will it take to make everyone take notice and act?”

Meanwhile, the MSF alarm merely confirmed a United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) report that Nigeria has the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a prevalence of 32 per cent of children under five. According to the report, an estimated two million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), but only two out of every 10 children affected are currently reached with treatment. Forty per cent of these cases are said to be concentrated in six states. Also, more than six million children are moderately malnourished, and many women, pregnant and lactating, suffer from micronutrient deficiencies.

 For years, the cost of the general insecurity, particularly in the north, has adversely affected agricultural production and cost of living. Staples such as beans and tomatoes have seen astronomical surge in prices, just like onions, and cassava flour. The United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) has warned repeatedly that millions of Nigerians are at the risk of hunger as prices of foodstuff skyrocket. “People have been forced to adopt negative coping mechanisms such as survival sex and child labour to stay alive,” said the head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Nigeria, Trond Jensen.

 While urging federal and state governments in Nigeria, donors, and other stakeholders to commit resources and implement measures to avert a potential food and nutrition disaster, the UN warns that timely action is of essence. According to the UNWFP Country Representative, David Stevenson, “the hunger crisis in Nigeria, fueled by the ongoing conflict in the northeast, needs urgent addressing. Restoring peace in the northeast is critical for us to build pathways to production and achieve the northeast’s potential as the food basket of the country”.