Chijioke Iremeka
Nutritionists have warned that Nigeria may witness a spike in stunted children due to widespread hunger and economic hardship plaguing families.
The nutrition experts stated that rising inflation, high food prices, and poverty contribute to food insecurity, limiting access to nutritious foods essential for children’s healthy growth.
The nutritionists cautioned that if no urgent action were taken to address the problem, stunting, a chronic form of malnutrition, would negatively impact children by hindering their cognitive development, lowering school performance, and increasing their susceptibility to infections.
The professionals noted that the economic challenges had exacerbated hunger among vulnerable Nigerians by reducing household income, making it harder for families to provide adequate nutrition and healthcare.
The United Nations Children’s Fund says Nigeria has the second-highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 32 percent of children under five.
UNICEF estimates that two million children in Nigeria suffer from acute malnutrition, but only two out of every 10 children affected are currently reached with treatment, while seven percent of women of childbearing age also suffer from acute malnutrition.
“In Nigeria, 37 percent of children, or six million children, are stunted (chronically malnourished or low height for age), more than half of them severely. In addition, 18 percent of children suffer from wasting (acutely malnourished or low weight for height), half of them severely. Twenty-nine percent of children are underweight (both acutely and chronically malnourished or low weight for age), almost half of them severely,” UNICEF stated
Speaking exclusively with PUNCH Healthwise in different interviews, the experts said while the long-term effects of stunting, including reduced productivity and economic potential, also hinder national development, early intervention within the first two years of a child’s life would reverse the stunting but become irreversible after two years.
A Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Ignatius Onimawo, said increasing economic hardship in the country has brought about a sharp increase in the number of stunted children in Nigeria, arguing that if a study were to be conducted, the number of children with stunted growth would be visibly high.
Onimawo, Vice-Chancellor of Ave Maria University, Abuja, noted that the figure would increase astronomically in the future if the necessary intervention is not taken to make food available and reduce the rate of hardship in the country, which has reduced the household purchasing power for healthy food.
He said, “For the percentage increase, I would not be able to speculate because research has to be conducted before I can put a figure to it, but I assure you that there is already a sharp increase, and if the government does nothing, it will skyrocket.
“Nigeria will expect more stunted children in the future. It has started already. Stunting is very high in Nigerian children, and more people will become stunted. Increased cost and hunger will affect stunting because those children who manage to escape will be caught up in the web of stunting.
“For instance, for a pregnant woman who does not have enough healthy diet to feed on, there is nothing you can do about it. If the food is deficient in iron, protein, and other essential micronutrients, she will be malnourished and will give birth to a child that will be less than 2.5 kg.
“When others are giving birth to babies of 3kg, she will be giving birth to a baby of 1.3kg. This is bad for that child because it has lost a lot. Even if exclusive breastfeeding was administered after birth for six months, the baby may still not be able to attain its genetic height.”
According to him, several factors cause stunting in children, but the major one is malnutrition, emphasising that stunting could occur during pregnancy or after the baby is born.
The former Vice-Chancellor of Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma, Edo State, said, “In pregnancy when a woman is malnourished, the baby does not have enough nutrients for the child’s development. With this, the organs of the body will be compromised.
“The organs will not form well, and the brain will be highly affected. The child’s brain will not develop to its full potential. So by 38 weeks or 40 weeks, the complications will be either the cells of the brain are fewer or the size of the cells is smaller.
“And whichever one is not good for the development of the child. When some of these children are given birth, some can be remedied if the interventions are immediate before the first two years of birth.
“For instance, exclusive breastfeeding for six months will do a lot followed by a complementary diet after six months. This is called the window opportunity. Any child that misses this opportunity to recover has lost its chances in life.
“This is because the brain is not fully developed in the womb; it is completed within the first two years of life. And that is why we emphasise the need for adequate nutrition in the first 1000 years of life. This is the most critical period in the life of a baby.”
Onimawo stressed that if the necessary nutrients didn’t get to the baby in this period, the consequences would be grave and the child would not develop optimally.
He, however, noted that irreversible stunting will occur if the child is born malnourished and the mother fails to breastfeed for six months and follows up with a healthy diet within the first two years of life.
Onimawo said, “At this stage, the child has lost the opportunity of recovery. It will not be able to meet up with its mates of the same height. The centre of human development is the brain, and the brain is severely affected by stunting. When the brain is underdeveloped, the child will not achieve certain potential in life.
“He will not be able to compete with his peer group. If by genetics he was supposed to be 1.9 metres tall, due to stunting, he could be 1.2 metres. He might not be able to practice certain professions because of his height and IQ.
“For instance, he cannot be a basketball player because this profession requires height. He may also not become a policeman. He will not be able to cope and compete with others academically, even in skilled jobs, he can’t compete with his peers.
“He might not be able to go through school due to his inability to cope, and he ends up being a dropout. The society will bear the brunt of it.
If you noticed, the children that were arrested were not all children, but some of them were stunted, and therefore, you have such children as bandits, Boko Hara, and kidnappers because they will feel that society failed them.
“Even when they go for skill work, they don’t know the details. They are likely to be quacks. Such people as tailors will not be able to design because they are limited. They will be able to do the ones they saw their master do, but they can’t engage their brain and be creative because they are limited by development.”
Corroborating his statement, the Director of Nutrition Services and Health Education at the Osun State Primary Health Care Development Board, James Oloyede, with the increase in hardship and price of a healthy diet, Nigeria will experience a surge in stunting.
He noted that this has started already since last year, going by the study conducted last, saying that this phenomenon will cost Nigeria manpower if the issues of food security is not addressed.
“This would be a great loss of economic production because the people with the right brain and skills to undertake certain taxing disciplines will not be able to do so because they weren’t well developed. We will lose good leaders because their brains are poorly developed.
“The long- and short-term effects of this condition do not only end there; it will increase the cost of healthcare treatment and disease burden due to low immunity as malnourished or stunted children have compromised immune systems,” he added.
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