By Martins Ifijeh
A Consultant Gastroenterologist, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Olufunke Adeniyi, revealed that over 53 per cent of deaths of children under five years was due to poor nutrition.
Adeniyi, who stated this at the fortification workshop organised by Nestle Nigeria, tagged: ‘Hidden Hunger, Nigeria Silent Crisis’ said the nature of malnutrition burden in the country was increasingly complex, hence the need for urgent solution to tackle it.
She noted that the signs of malnutrition were hidden, as individuals may look well, but that the consequences of it leads to various health challenges like night blindness, stunting, low immune system, among others. “Most malnourished children lack vitamin A, and this is the cause of blindness,” she explained.
Also lending his voice, Dr. Samuel Adedekun, who represented the Managing Director of Nestle Nigeria, Mr. Dharnesh Gordhon, said malnutrition leads to the shortage of macronutrients, including; iodine, magnesium, zinc, vitamin A, among others, adding that this kills silently, until it has either taken the person’s life or done damage to the body system.
According to him, iodine deficiency was affecting one third of children in Nigeria, adding that the way out was to make sure beverages, maggi, among other products of Nestle Nigeria contains iodine, fortified with iron.
“We have tried in our own way to address this issue by making sure our maggi is fortified with iodine. In 2014, we reached over 18 million households in the country. Maggi is one of the major carrier of iodine and iron, taken by Nigerians,” he noted.
He advised mothers to breast feed their children exclusively for six months and then breast milk in addition to other foods for the first 1000 days of the chil, as this goes a long way in tackling malnutrition.
“Healthy nutrition for the first 1000 days of life makes the child better educationally, economically, physically, as well as socially,” he added
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