‘Inadequate Funding Worsening Malnutrition Burden In Nasarawa’

Inadequate funding and late release of funds are worsening the burden of malnutrition in Nasarawa State, the Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has said.

The organisation said despite yearly budgetary allocations for nutrition, the amount released is not commensurate with the burden, while releases often come late, making implementation difficult.

During a media engagement in Lafia, the senior programme officer of CS-SUNN, Kunle Ishola, said Nasarawa State currently records a stunting rate of 35 per cent, according to the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2023-2024.

He said the state also records a wasting rate of about 9.6 per cent, alongside a high rate of underweight among children under five.

Ishola described stunting as irreversible, saying it affects brain development and reduces productivity in adulthood.

“Out of 100 children, 35 of them are already stunted. If children are said to be leaders of tomorrow, that means we are raising 35 stunted leaders for tomorrow in Nasarawa State,” he said.

He said every day, children fall into Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) or Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), and where commodities do not reach them in time, some die while others are hospitalised, adding burden to health facilities.

Ishola identified bureaucratic bottlenecks as a major obstacle to nutrition financing. He said desk officers in nutrition-line Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) understand nutrition issues but are not the final decision-makers.

He added that many principals do not understand the difference between food security and nutrition security, a situation which affects approval of funds.

“Most of them do not have the understanding of the difference between food security and nutrition security and the financing opportunities that there is. If you don’t understand anything, you might not have an informed decision on that thing,” he said.

On releases, Ishola said most funds are released at the tail end of the year, leaving MDAs with little time to implement activities planned for the whole year.

“Most of these releases come at the tail end of the year. You have 20 activities for the year divided into quarters, but you get the money in November to implement all of them. There will be rush,” he said.

He acknowledged that the state has made progress with the approval of the Nasarawa State Policy on Food and Nutrition and the Multi-Sectoral Strategic Plan of Action for Nutrition, but said funding remains the major challenge.

Also speaking, the State Coordinator of CS-SUNN in Nasarawa, Aboki Jonah, said budgetary allocation without timely release has continued to hamper the fight against malnutrition.

Jonah disclosed that through a matching grant, the state government released ₦125 million for nutrition commodities, and that part of the commodities have been supplied to the state.

He said, however, that distribution of the commodities has been stalled for about one month.

“Commodities have been procured, but distribution of those commodities is a greater challenge now. For like a month now, those commodities have been procured, but they have not been distributed,” Jonah said.

He said the Primary Health Care Development Agency is responsible for distribution because it is close to the grassroots.

Jonah identified Awe local government area as having a higher prevalence of malnutrition than the state average, adding that Nasarawa local government area also requires attention.

He called for improved and timely funding, stressing that nutrition is multisectoral and requires the collaboration of all sectors.

Ishola said CS-SUNN is implementing the Partnership for Improving Nutrition Systems (PINS) 3.0 project in five states — Nasarawa, Kano, Lagos, Niger and Kaduna — and was in Nasarawa to engage the media for quality reportage and visibility of nutrition issues.