By Bunmi Yekini
A one-day policy dialogue held at Golfview Hotels, Ikeja GRA, Lagos, has called for increased commitment to addressing malnutrition and anaemia through the uptake of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS). The event, organized by the Lagos State Committee on Food and Nutrition in collaboration with Civil Society – Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), brought together government officials, healthcare professionals, civil society organizations, and nutrition partners to deliberate on ways to tackle maternal and child malnutrition.
The dialogue highlighted the alarming nutrition statistics in Lagos, where 17.3% of children under five are stunted, 6% are wasted, and 14.3% are underweight, according to the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2023. These figures emphasize the urgent need for strategic interventions, especially in preventing anaemia among pregnant women through MMS. MMS, which contains 15 essential vitamins and minerals, was underscored as a cost-effective solution for reducing maternal and neonatal mortality, improving birth outcomes, and combating malnutrition.
Stakeholders stressed the importance of leveraging existing Child Nutrition Funding (CNF) opportunities and committed to several key resolutions. The Lagos State government was urged to expedite the transfer of counterpart funding for nutrition commodities, including MMS, Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), and Micronutrient Powder (MNP). Media organizations were called on to intensify reporting on nutrition issues to draw policymakers’ attention to the need for increased funding for MMS.
To ensure accountability, the government was advised to establish a task force to track and monitor the distribution and uptake of MMS and develop a scorecard to measure progress. The dialogue also emphasized the role of social media in sensitizing young mothers on the benefits of MMS and called for the early release of approved nutrition funding.
Stakeholders applauded the efforts of CS-SUNN in raising awareness about malnutrition and urged the Lagos State government to honour its commitment to a $100,000 matching fund for nutrition commodities.
The event concluded with a collective call to action for prioritizing nutrition funding, leveraging donor support, and intensifying advocacy to improve nutrition indices in Lagos State.