Malnutrition: Over Five Million Newborn Risks Death – Survey

A report by the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), shows that more than five million newborns in Nigeria lack essential nutrients and antibodies that would protect them from diseases and death as they are not being exclusively breastfed.

The report, which was authored in 2013, shows that 37 percent of children under five years are stunted, 29 percent are underweight while 18 percent are wasted while another report by International Fund for Agricultural development (IFAD) in 2012, showed that 8.5 percent of the total population are under-nourished.

In a statement made available by our correspondent as Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the 2017 World Breastfeeding Week, the Civil Society-Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) is urging governments at all levels to prioritize and scale-up the implementation of the National Strategic Plan of Action on Nutrition to address the dire nutrition needs of Nigerians.

With this year’s theme “Sustaining Breastfeeding Together,”‎ decision makers, partners and relevant stakeholders in the health sector are charged to forge purposeful affiliations that will yield improved health interventions for Nigerians and rid the country of the negative health statistics registered at the West African Region as well as globally.

‎The statement further said that the negative indices have continued to act as a brake on Nigeria’s economic development globally, adding that “stunting is currently an indicator for measuring a country’s development.

“NSPAN has a strong exclusive breastfeeding component within its Maternal Nutrition and Infant and Young Child Feeding, (IYCF) priority areas.”

However, in order to attain the 50 percent exclusive breastfeeding targets set in the Plan by 2018, the goal of sustainable promotion and support for optimal breastfeeding will require priority attention, increased funding as well as monitoring of activities during and post implementation.

In the statement CS-SUNN urges, ” governments at all levels and relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies to include a budget line for nutrition in the health and nutrition relevant sector budgets, increase budgetary allocation to health and nutrition while ensuring timely release of allocated funds for immediate programming and implementation of nutrition interventions.

“The National Assembly is also called on to enact legislation that promotes breastfeeding, protect breastfeeding mothers, clamp down on employers of labour who are non-adherents to the 6 months maternity leave for nursing mothers, protect safe medications for mothers and their infants as well as ensure strong regulations on marketing of breast milk substitutes or baby formulas, so that nursing mothers in Nigeria can be entitled to the constitutional right to breastfeed and newborns the constitutional right to be breastfed anywhere, any day and at all times.