Why Nutrition Is Critical To Human Development

As malnutrition remains a significant public health problem in the Nigeria, the call for investment in nutrition has been heightened.

Malnutrition occurs when a person’s diet does not provide enough nutrients or the right balance of nutrients for optimal health, and this leads stunting, wasting and  underweight.

The National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) puts the prevalence of stunting in Nigeria at 42 per cent in 2003, 41 per cent in 2008 and 37 per cent in 2013 and 2018. 

Meanwhile, nutrition experts have said that nutrition plays a critical role in Human Capital Development (HCD), stating that advancing Human Capital Development in the country requires investment from the very beginning of life through the provision of adequate nutrition and care for mother and child from childbirth.

The executive secretary of the Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), Sunday Okoronkwo, said deficiencies in essential nutrients lead to malnutrition, which affects an individual’s mental and physical state, resulting in poor health and work outcomes. 

he said for instance, a hungry, malnourished child may not respond well to treatment, may have mild to serious learning disabilities, resulting in poor school performance, thus draining household income, thereby leading to under performance at workplace and impacting negatively on the country’s economic growth and development. 

The SC-SUNN however commended the government of Nigeria for setting up the Nigerian Human Capital Investment (HCI) Committee and Core Working Group (CWG) in 2018. 

The CWG set a Human Capital Development (HCD) vision for “Healthy, Educated and Productive Nigerians for a globally competitive nation by 2030” with an overall target of 24 million additional healthy (under-five year old children surviving and not stunted), educated (completing secondary school) and productive (youth entering the labour force) Nigerians by 2030.

Though Health and Nutrition is at the core of attaining Nigeria’s HCD target and is one of the thematic areas, CS-SUNN expressed worry that Nigeria will not meet its HCD vision which will contribute to attaining the SDGs by 2030 if nutrition is not prioritised. 

According to the World bank in 2018, Nigeria ranked 152 out of 157 on the Human Capital Index. The above disturbing statistics however, point to the fact that current effort towards the achievement of HCD targets in the country was slow and that the country was yet to prioritise nutrition to contribute to national economic growth and development.

Okoronkwo, who spoke during a one-day media roundtable on RESET Nutrition for Human Capital Development in Nigeria, recently in Abuja, expressed the CS-SUNN‘s commitment to supporting the government of Nigeria to improve nutrition outcomes and address some challenges which has continued to impede progress for nutrition.

He said „Currently, the organisation is implementing the Partnership for Improving Nigeria Nutrition Systems 2.0 (PINNS-2.0) project. The PINNS-2.0 project surmises that when government sustainably commits to improving nutrition through strong nutrition governance, it will ensure data for planning and decision making is routinely available and that adequate domestic financing is made available to effectively deliver on nutrition services. 

„The outcome will be a well-nourished child who grows up to become a major contributor to growing the country’s Gross Domestic Product, thus aligning to the country’s HCD objectives.

„The three years project implemented in Kaduna, Nasarawa, Niger, Kano and Lagos states will strengthen nutrition governance systems, improve nutrition data management, improve funding for nutrition, and strengthen Civil Society Alliances in Nigeria and African countries like Kenya and Ethiopia. CS-SUNN will continue to support nutrition institutions/bodies.“

Okoronkwo listed some of the challenges as inadequate nutrition data to inform real-time decisions that will translate to desired change for nutrition in the country, weak nutrition governance with very low political will to fully implement and fund nutrition policies and plans.

 He also identified gender inequality in health and nutrition as women and children are not part of decision-making processes as part of the challenges.

The media roundtable was aimed at sensitising the media on how nutrition can be RESET (Result-Oriented, Effective, Serviceable, Efficient and Transparent) to contribute to attainment of HCD Targets for Nigeria.