The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has announced that the government is collaborating with both local and international partners to improve the quality of diet for vulnerable children across Nigeria.
According to the ministry, a special intervention programme is ongoing in 20 high-risk states aimed at providing Small Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (SQ-LNS) to about 300,000 children who are currently at risk of malnutrition in different communities across the country.
The SQ-LNS, described as a fortified lipid-based paste or spread, is designed to complement the diet of children between six and 23 months with essential nutrients. The supplement is intended to help prevent micronutrient deficiencies and stunting, which are major public health concerns in Nigeria.
Experts say the SQ-LNS for children contains protein and lipid macronutrients as well as 24 micronutrients, including 13 vitamins and 11 minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium.
Speaking in an interview with THISDAY, the Director of Nutrition Information System, Dr Lekan Olubajo, explained that the capacity training initiative is targeted at protecting children, especially those under five years of age, from malnourishment.
He said, “Malnutrition and wasting are about 40 percent right now in the country. We have under-five children who are malnourished, and the malnutrition is becoming one of the public health challenges in Nigeria.”
Olubajo further stated that the government is taking practical steps to tackle this issue, particularly among children aged between six and 23 months.
He explained that the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Evidence Action, and other relevant stakeholders, has developed an SQ-LNS training manual to ensure standardisation in the training of healthcare practitioners nationwide.
“The first stage of the train-the-trainers programme is being carried out at the national level. There will also be state-level and facility-level training where health workers will be equipped to administer these commodities to the children,” he said.
According to him, “We are doing a training of trainers on this commodity to address malnutrition in Nigeria. We have 70 persons here representing both partners and 20 states. We have two people from each of these states, and they will go back and cascade the training to the local communities.”
Olubajo added that the programme has been carefully designed to build the capacity of all health workers involved in micronutrient deficiency control in Nigeria, both at the facility and community levels.
“This will significantly contribute to the reduction of micronutrient deficiencies among children aged six to 23 months and the overall reduction of anaemia and high mortality in the country,” he said.
Country Director of Evidence Action, one of the implementing partners, Mr Tope Ogunbi, said the distribution of SQ-LNS is a new intervention. He explained that most health workers across states are yet to receive proper training on how to administer the supplement.
“So, the reason why we’re here on Monday is to train a pool of national trainers who are drawn from the Ministry of Health, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, and other agencies, ministries, and parastatals at the national level,” he said.