New Research Highlights Pathways To Scale Up Maternal Nutrition For 7.8m Pregnant Women

New research has identified critical pathways for scaling up maternal nutrition interventions to reach an estimated 7.8 million pregnant women in Nigeria annually, offering fresh insights into how the country can tackle persistent nutritional deficiencies and improve maternal health outcomes.

The findings were presented in Abuja during the launch of the Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) Landscaping and Segmentation Study, convened by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Sight and Life, and the Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC).

The study, commissioned by Sight and Life with support from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and conducted by dRPC, examined the opportunities and chales associated with expanding access to MMS for pregnant women across Nigeria.

Presenting the findings, Lead Researcher, Dr. Stanley Ukpai, said the research provides evidence-based recommendations for accelerating the scale-up of maternal nutrition programmes, particularly through wider access to MMS, which contains essential vitamins and minerals needed during pregnancy.

He noted that Nigeria records about 7.8 million pregnancies every year and continues to face a high burden of anaemia among pregnant women, making improved maternal nutrition a public health priority.

Dr. Ukpai said the study identified three key areas requiring urgent attention to support large-scale implementation of MMS: sustainable financing, improved affordability for women, and increased product availability.

He explained that while there is growing policy support for maternal nutrition interventions, addressing these challenges will be critical to translating policy commitments into meaningful health outcomes.

“The findings show that policy ambition alone will not deliver impact unless financing, access and supply constraints are addressed together,” he said.

While MMS offers broader nutrient support than iron and folic acid supplementation and is strongly accepted by women when available, affordable and properly explained, the study found that long-term scale-up will require stronger public financing, protection for low-income women, and a more reliable supply system.

Dr. Ukpai said financing for MMS is still inconsistent and heavily donor-dependent; women are willing to use MMS but many cannot afford it consistently; and current supply remains significantly below the level required for nationwide coverage.

He said the research therefore recommends institutionalising MMS financing, protecting affordability through public support and fair pricing measures, and securing long-term supply through improved procurement and support for local manufacturing.

In her message, the Executive Director of Nutrition at CIFF, Anna Hakobyan, said the findings provide valuable evidence and practical insights to support Nigeria’s efforts to integrate micronutrient supplementation as part of wider sustainable maternal and child nutrition strategies.

In her presentation at the event, the Country Programme Manager for Sight and Life, Mrs Zainab Abubakar, said the purpose of the research was to support the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and partners to scale up maternal nutrition commodities such as MMS by generating evidence on how existing health financing systems can better support introduction and scale.

She noted that limited funding, weak insurance inclusion and heavy dependence on out-of-pocket spending continue to create barriers to equitable access to maternal nutrition services in Nigeria.

She said the assessment identified practical pathways for sustainable MMS financing, highlighted implementation bottlenecks, and produced recommendations to help policymakers and development partners align financing decisions with national health priorities and the goal of nationwide scale-up.

The Special Adviser to the President on Health, Dr Salma Ibrahim Anas, said maternal nutrition is central to Nigeria’s health and development agenda because it directly affects the survival, health and future potential of both mothers and children.

She said the evidence supporting MMS is already strong, and that the priority now is not whether MMS works, but how to scale it effectively and equitably.

Earlier, the Director of Nutrition at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Mrs Adegbite Olufunmilola, said the federal government has taken deliberate steps to institutionalise MMS within the health system, including its integration into relevant national guidance on maternal nutrition and antenatal care.

She said Nigeria’s broader health reform efforts, including ongoing health sector renewal initiatives, provide an opportunity to strengthen the policy, financing and implementation foundations needed for effective scale-up.

She added that sustainable financing options include public budgets, health insurance mechanisms, and other domestic financing pathways, while local manufacturing of MMS presents a major opportunity to strengthen national supply security and long-term sustainability.

She noted that the federal government has demonstrated high-level commitment to improving nutrition outcomes but said stronger implementation at national and subnational levels remains essential. She called for deeper collaboration among government, development partners and the private sector to ensure that proven maternal nutrition interventions such as MMS reach women at scale.

Highlights of the launch included panel discussions on the financing and policy landscape, demand equity and consumer behaviour, and the supply landscape and market structure, with participants identifying practical actions for federal and subnational governments to accelerate the adoption and scale-up of MMS for pregnant women across Nigeria.