Angela Onwuzoo
To reduce under-five deaths occasioned by malnutrition, a Registered Dietitian-Nutritionist at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nwabumma Asouzu, says women have a key role to play by ensuring that they consume healthy diet at all times and also maintain a good health status.
According to the dietician, maternal nutritional and health status before, during and after pregnancy plays a key role in early child’s growth and development.
Asouzu noted that poor nutrition contributes to the high burden of stunting in the country.
The dietitian disclosed this during an interview with PUNCH HealthWise while calling for improved maternal education as part of strategies to tackle child malnutrition and its attendant health consequences.
She explained, “Maternal nutritional and health status before, during and after pregnancy influences a child’s early growth and development, beginning in the womb.
“For example, intrauterine growth restriction due to maternal undernutrition (estimated by rates of low birth weight) and accounts for about 20 percent of childhood stunting.
“If a mother is malnourished, it’s more likely that her baby will be born underweight.
“This sets off a cycle of stunting because without proper postnatal care and proper nutrients, the baby will likely suffer from stunted growth.
“If the child’s malnutrition goes untreated, they themselves may grow into a young woman who becomes a malnourished mother to a stunted child. This is called a vicious cycle of stunting.”
According to her, an estimated two million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition.
She noted that lack of time to prepare adequate nutritive food and quest for quick non nutritive food given to children by mothers contribute also to the burden of child malnutrition in the country.
Nigeria, she said, currently has the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 32 per cent of children under-five.
The World Health Organisation says around 45 per cent of deaths among children under five years of age are linked to undernutrition.
“These mostly occur in low-and-middle-income countries. At the same time, in these same countries, rates of childhood overweight and obesity are rising.
“In 2014, approximately 462 million adults worldwide were underweight, while 1.9 billion were either overweight or obese. In 2016, an estimated 155 million children under the age of 5 years were suffering from stunting, while 41 million were overweight or obese”, WHO said.
The dietician therefore, called on the government to implement policies on home grown food feeding programs and other programs that focuses on curbing malnutrition in the country through school feeding programs and food policies.
Also, Asouzu called for improved socio-economic status of women, saying, “Research conducted in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania has shown that improving maternal education and household income are two key strategies in addressing childhood stunting.
“For instance, mothers with a lower level of education are less likely to have the information they need about child stunting. And mothers with low income may struggle to provide a nutritious and diversified diet.”
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