The Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), an NGO, has urged the media to step up reportage on nutrition issues, to ensure reduction in the nation’s malnutrition burden.
Mrs Beatrice Eluaka, Executive Secretary of the organisation, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday.
Eluaka, who described the rate of malnutrition in the country as worrisome, said that such reportage would attract policy makers and other concerned stakeholders to take the right measures to curb the malnutrition challenge.
According to her, malnutrition remains a major contributor to infant and maternal mortality, mobility and poor cognitive development.
She also said that malnutrition had increased the severity of diseases which adversely affect productivity in the country.
She identified the media as instruments of mobilisation, awareness creation, information exchange and dissemination, adding that they had great role to play in setting nutrition as an agenda for public discourse.
“Without the media, it might be difficult for us and other stakeholders in the nutrition circle to communicate nutrition information, monitor and coordinate nutrition interventions to ascertain optimal delivery of benefits to Nigerians, especially vulnerable women and children.’’
Quoting the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), Eluaka said that over five million new-borns lacked essential nutrients and antibodies that would protect them from diseases and death as they were not exclusively breastfed.
“The National Nutrition and Health Survey (NNHS) conducted in 2014 puts exclusive breastfeeding rate in Nigeria at 25 per cent.
“Also, the 2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) put stunting at 43.6 per cent as against 32.9 per cent in 2015.
“Wasting in 2017 is 10.8 per cent as against 7.2 per cent in 2015 and underweight at 32.5 per cent as against 19.4 per cent in 2015.
“These negative data indicate an increasing trend in Nigeria’s malnutrition burden which will continue to further impede the nation’s economic development, if not properly addressed.”
The executive secretary blamed the alarming rate of malnutrition in the country on the lack of transparency in fund allocations, disbursement and judicious utilisation of such funds.
She also identified the inability of government to keep to national and international commitments for funding nutrition as well as low uptake of preventive measures for combating malnutrition such as exclusive breastfeeding, among others as major drawbacks.
She further decried the inadequate fund allocations and releases for planned implementation of annual work plans geared toward nutrition interventions.
According to her, civil society organisations’ capacity for sustained advocacy is still very low due to inadequate advocacy skills and organisational capacity to attract funds for activities.
“These challenges should be a wake-up call for all tiers of government and relevant stakeholders to scale up and smoothen operations in the provision of nutrition-related interventions across the country,” Eluaka said. (NAN)