Worried by the rate of hunger, malnutrition and lack of nutrients that will aid growth mentally and physically amongst Nigerian citizens, particularly children under the age of five and the workforce, the Federal Government has been urged to enforce the food fortification policy which is already in existence.
Speaking on Thursday in Lagos during a campaign launch and media roundtable on Promoting Fortification Compliance and Workforce Nutrition in Nigeria Themed: “Fortifying Nigeria’s Future”, stakeholders in Nigeria’s nutrition sub-sector lamented that Nigeria is facing a serious nutrition crisis.
The advocacy campaign which was sponsored by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC) in collaboration with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and E-Health Africa, had presentations by the Senate Committee Chairman on Health, Senator Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe; President, Nutrition Association of Nigeria, Professor Wasiu Afolabi and President/CEO, Consumer Advocacy for Food Safety and Nutrition Initiative (CAFSANI), Professor Ogunmoyela.
Delivering the opening remark, Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani lamented that millions of Nigerians are undernourished, and many more are overweight or obese.
The CISLAC Executive Director said, “According to the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2022, 44.1% of children under the age of five in Nigeria are stunted, meaning they are too short for their age. This is a decrease from 46.0% in 2018, but it is still a high number. Stunting is a sign of chronic malnutrition and can have long-term consequences for health and development.
“The NDHS also found that 20.3% of children under the age of five in Nigeria are wasted, meaning they are too thin for their height. This is an increase from 19.9% in 2018. Wasting is a sign of acute malnutrition and can be a life-threatening condition. The NDHS also found that 18.7% of adults in Nigeria are overweight and 4.4% are obese.
This is an increase from 17.4% and 3.4%, respectively, in 2018. “Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer.
“Food fortification is a proven way to improve nutrition and health. It is a simple, cost-effective intervention that can be used to add essential nutrients to foods that are commonly consumed by large populations.”
Also speaking, Senate Committee Chairman on Health, Senator Dr Ibrahim Oloriegbe lamented that as of today, about 6 million children are malnourished in Nigeria.
The media roundtable came up with the following recommendations: Prioritising food fortification across manufacturing processes and production chains through proactive media reportage that promotes well-informed citizens on appropriate food choices; Integrating food fortification into the organisations’ policies coupled with targeted sensitisation and awareness of employees’ levels to activate compliance to workforce nutrition, while enhancing productivity in the work environment;
Highlighting the cost-benefits of implementing workplace compliance to food fortification to encourage investment that promotes employees’ health and socio-economic well-being as well as best practice at organisational levels;
Formulation and full implementation of adequate regulatory framework through the proactive legislative process to enforce compliance to food fortification across manufacturing processes and production chains in Nigeria;
Mainstreaming a multi-stakeholders approach to food fortification advocacy through targeted engagement and awareness creation to drive all-inclusive enforcement of food fortification compliance;
Encouraging exclusive breastfeeding in the first 1000days of childbirth to avert pervasive effects of childhood malnutrition and enhance proper cognitive and physical development; Agenda setting to continually monitor compliance levels to food fortification through investigative journalism and well-informed reporting to expose non-compliance and repeal potential efforts at boycotting policies and processes;
Adequate investment in food fortification system to elicit greater socio-economic benefits, while minimising the impacts of iron deficiency, goitre prevalence and zinc deficiency and Integrating nutrition education into the school curriculum to inculcate nutrition education from childhood through adolescent levels as a sustainable strategy to promote well-informed citizens on the consumption of fortified foods.
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