By IJEOMA UKAZU
In 2017, Nigeria took the bold step of launching a plan and roadmap to achieve zero hunger by 2030 to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition as well as promote sustainable agriculture.
Also, the United Nations set a goal to end malnutrition by 2030. Before that, by 2025, it aims to achieve internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under five years of age.
These targets, ending hunger and malnutrition are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, Goal 2 -Zero hunger by 2030, which seems to be a far-reaching target.
Currently, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Nigeria parades the second-highest burden of stunted children in the world with a national prevalence rate of 32 percent of children under five.
The report states that 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.
Experts are worried that with the rising insurgency and herdsmen attacks on farmers leading to food insecurity indications show that Nigeria may not meet its target by 2030.
They proffered that achieving this target requires the world to ensure that all people have access, particularly, the poor and people in vulnerable situations including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
Calling on the government, health analysts advised that investment in interventions that would guarantee food security in Nigeria as well as nutrition friendly interventions that would cover both women and their babies to prevent malnutrition in children is needed.
As part of efforts, UNICEF in collaboration with key partners has recommended adequate feeding and nutrition for neonates within the first 1,000 days of life, particularly from conception to the second year of life to prevent malnutrition and other adverse health conditions.
They said exclusive breastfeeding is a sure way to curb child malnutrition as Nigeria currently has achieved only a 29 percent exclusive breastfeeding rate which is below the recommendation.
A World Health Organisation WHO report states that “The exclusive breastfeeding rate in Nigeria is 29 percent indicating that only a mere percentage of infants aged zero to six months are exclusively breastfed leaving a whopping 71 percent of infants not enjoying the benefits of breast milk in their formative years.”
Not having the right dietary requirements for a child, nutritionists said would hamper the child’s growth and development, thereby putting the future of the country at risk.
Nutrition Officer with the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Nkeiruka Enwelum said poor nutrition contributes largely to the high rate of child mortality.
Enwelum adds, “When an expectant mother does not feed well, it affects the unborn baby. So, poor nutrition in 1,000 days from the conception of a child to two years of age results in permanent damages.”
She highlighted that poverty is the major factor causing malnutrition and affecting the well-being of a child, she regretted that Nigeria remains off track to achieving the SDGs target to ensure adequate nutrition for children and women.
She said 45 percent of child deaths are a result of poor nutrition, stressing the need for good nutrition for the survival of a child and general wellbeing.
In her presentation entitled, ‘Child Malnutrition: Situation In Nigeria: An Overview,’ she said children under the age of two are most vulnerable to all forms of malnutrition – stunting, wasting (low weight for height), micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity.
“This is as a result of poor diets, due to their greater need for essential nutrients per kilogram of body weight than at any other time in life,” explaining that childhood stunting which is undernutrition (a child too short for his or her age) affected children may have a long-term effect on physical development, cognitive development, educational performance and economic productivity in adulthood, pointing that poor diet can also affect women’s ability to give birth to normal-weight children.
Highlighting the SDGs of Goal 2- Zero hunger target content, the United Nations Nigeria states that “By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
“By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under five years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons.”
The Goal continues; “By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.
“By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.” It states.
A recent report by The Cadre Harmonisé, CH, a unified tool for consensual analysis of acute food and nutrition insecurity in the Sahel and West African Region shows that in Nigeria, no fewer than 21 states and the Federal Capital Territories, FCT, faces malnutrition and food insecurity in 2022 and 2023 year under review.
The government source research data sponsored by UNICEF, USAID, EU, AU, ECOWAS and other partners was titled: “Cadre Harmonize for Identification of Risk Areas and Vulnerable Populations In 21 states and Federal Capital Territory, FCT, 2022”.
The analysis covered 21 including FCT considered food and nutrition security outcomes (Food consumption, livelihood evolution, nutritional status and mortality); complemented with inferences drawn from the impact of relevant contributing factors (hazards and vulnerability, food availability, food access, food utilization and stability).
The report states the results for zones affected by food and nutrition insecurity in the 21 states of Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Edo, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Lagos, Niger, Plateau, Taraba, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara and the FCT.
The result of the analysis indicates that 14.5 million people, 9.1 percent of the analyzed population require urgent assistance in the current period (March to May 2022). During the projected period (June to August 2022), the number of vulnerable populations may rise to 19.5 million, 12.3 percent, of the overall population analyzed, unless conscious efforts are made to provide strategic resilience-focused interventions and humanitarian assistance in areas where necessary.