Nigeria needs N3b to prevent 3m children from becoming malnourished

Due to poor access to adequate nourishment and healthcare, children in Nigeria frequently experience abuse and exploitation as children. Kabiru was an optimistic child who grew up in a world of uncertainty and deprivation. Kabiru was supposed to be robust and strong, but his developing body and brain required all the nutrients, underlining the need for better nutrition and access to healthcare for kids like Kabiru.

Pregnant women give their unborn children top priority by supplying them with necessary minerals like calcium and iron. However, when they consume little to no food, they have fewer nutrients to pass on to their offspring. Three million malnourished children are among the top three causes of childhood undernutrition in Nigeria, where 7.8 million pregnant women have anemia. Malnutrition is a serious issue that no nation can afford to ignore, according to UNICEF.

Malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), slows economic growth, lowers productivity, and raises health care expenses, which can feed a vicious cycle of poverty and illness. Malnutrition is a significant problem in Nigeria, where it affects 35 million children under the age of five, leaving 12 million of them stunted, 3 million wasted, and 23.5 million anemic. 17.7 million people reported being hungry, with 1 million experiencing severe food insecurity, according to the 2023 Cadre Report. Only 1.4% less stunting occurs annually on average. However, with just N11 000 ($14 00), high-impact preventive actions might safeguard Nigeria’s future.

The socioeconomic benefits of nutrition investment are substantial and long-lasting, according to John A. Kufour, a former president of Ghana. Shouldn’t we make every effort to ensure that our children have a healthier future?

Nkeiru Enwelum, UNICEF’s nutrition officer, stressed the urgent need for investments and funds in nutrition in order to decrease malnutrition and enhance diet quality. According to Enwelum, failing to avoid childhood malnutrition, including stunting, wasting, and underweight, has long-lasting, irreversible effects on cognitive and physical development. Nigeria’s GDP in 2023 is expected to be N506.6 billion; failure to stop malnutrition leads in a loss of N76 billion, or 15% of the GDP.

A child’s dietary requirements are presently expected to cost N11,000, or roughly $5 per child year, according to Enwelum. With vitamin A supplementation costing $0.44, treatment costs are almost 10 times higher than they are now. She said that for N11,000.00, Nigerian children will have access to ORS for diarrhea, zinc, vitamin A, and other supplements. The new ORS supplement would also provide electrolytes.

Children must take vitamins like multi-micronutrient powder, have dewormed, take folic acid supplements, have their iron fortified, and have their salt iodized in order to avoid malnutrition.

“It costs N11,000 per child per year to deliver all these preventive treatments. When we conducted the analysis at this time last year, 14 dollars were worth N6,000 at the CBN rate. Currently, that same 14 dollars is equivalent to around N11, 000, but the price in dollars remains the same.

She noted that because treating acute malnutrition and severe acute malnutrition costs 131 dollars (N100,000), which were converted from global estimates, it is preferable to prevent than to treat.

“It is better to prevent problems than to fix them when creating an investment case. The agricultural sector carries out two interventions—iron fortification and salt iodization—through the health system.

“Consider that if you spend N100,000 and fail to stop the malnutrition of one child, you could save the lives of ten other children. In a way, the expense of treatment actually deprives 10 additional kids of the preventive care they might have received in the first place. Malnutrition must be avoided. It is basically necessary to treat malnutrition when it arises in order to save the child’s life.

“Cognitive and growth impacts may result if there is no treatment or prevention,” It may cause households to lose income. The mother is not working if the infant is ill. If you work from 9 to 5, you will take days off, and you won’t be able to focus if you are thinking about your child. Stress can occasionally cause you to become ill as well, which will decrease your income.

“Treating malnutrition through integrated management of acute malnutrition costs N100,000 ($130), which is 10 times the price of prevention. That indicates that therapy is exceedingly expensive and that not all of the three million hungry youngsters are receiving it. If that isn’t done, some of them will perish, and those that survive become stunted. We are aware of a connection between stunting, mental development, and cognitive effect, which will have an impact on the household’s loss of income, poor academic performance, and increased morbidity.

Governments were asked to increase financing for nutrition interventions and ensure prompt release of cash by UNICEF’s nutrition officer. “Government expenditure on nutrition is inadequate,” she remarked in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, during a two-day media forum on child malnutrition. The budgetary release does not adequately reflect the budgetary allocation at the national and subnational levels. We must ensure that there is both more money for nutrition and more nutrition for the money.

“Despite our reaffirmed commitment, we have not yet succeeded in prioritizing financial nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive activities. The integration of other economic sectors, including agriculture, the environment, and water resources, among others, into nutrition interventions must be ensured. By doing this, it will be ensured that every industry is contributing.

Additionally, there is a critical need to increase nutrition interventions across the nation, particularly at the subnational levels of the states and their local government areas (LGAs).

She spoke about many preventative measures, including community nutrition programs, vitamin A and zinc supplements, micronutrient powders, deworming, iron-folic acid supplementation, iron fortification of common foods, and salt iodization. She regretted that the government did not allocate enough money for nourishment.

“It’s like when your supervisor promises to pay you N150, 000 per month, but at the end of the month only gives you N20,000—less than 30% of what you had originally agreed upon. For nutrition, that is consistently true.

“We consistently receive less funding than the government budgeted because many programs are constrained, we are unable to successfully implement prevention interventions, and we are observing an increase in the rate of malnutrition, so we have to spend more on treatment,” said the researcher.

Despite the fact that departments have been set up to make funding distribution simple, she said that the budget line’s monies are not entirely allotted.

According to experts, however, malnutrition at all levels is anticipated to get worse with the current food insecurity across the country as a result of Nigeria’s rising multidimensional poverty level. It is urgent for the Nigerian government to consider significant investments in nutrition as it develops its next budget in the coming months to give the children a chance to breathe. Malnutrition in all its forms imposes high costs on the nation, both directly and indirectly, and it strains the already weak economy while having economic repercussions at the individual, household, and community levels.