By Doris Obinna
Nigeria has been urged to consider the importance of nutrition to both mother and child as well as invest a lot of money in nutritional supplements.
Speaking at a two-day media engagement and capacity building workshop on Multiple Micronutrient Supplement (MMS) in pregnancy, organised by Vitamin Angels, the Country Director, Dr. Francis Ohanyido, stated that nutrition was an important aspect of life and it was high time Nigerian leaders understood these issues and invested a lot of money in MMS.
According to him, Nigerians are under-nourished and food insecure. They are at that point where it is important nutrition is on the front burner of national discussions in everything, including implementation.
“What we are trying to do is to scale up the implementation of MMS, which is a formulation of multivitamins for pregnant women as identified by the United Nations that should help women who are going into pregnancy to get better value in terms of nutrition for mother and child.
“Vitamin Angels is a public health nonprofit working to improve nutrition worldwide. We work directly with local and national organizations, including governments, to reach the most underserved, nutritionally vulnerable populations pregnant women, infants, and young children with evidence-based nutrition interventions and technical assistance.
“We collaborate with over 1,200 programme partners, including governments, NGOs, academic institutions, and private sector organisations. We strengthen, extend, and amplify the work of our in-country partners by delivering nutrition resources and services to more than 70 million children under age five and pregnant women in 65 countries.
“Our priority countriesincludes; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, Uganda and we focus on the underserved and most nutritionally vulnerable populations. By doing so, we aim to promote health and economic equity among families, communities, and nations around the world.
“We only implement high-impact, evidence-based nutrition interventions from high-quality vitamins and minerals to educational and counseling programming designed to encourage positive behavior change to improve overall health outcomes.
“We use an implementation science approach for positive and scalable impact. We are committed to designing and applying evidence-based strategies that work to improve outcomes and optimize impact. We are committed to making decisions that are in the best interest of the women, children, and infants we serve.
“We conduct due diligence on all potential partners and donors before we enter into agreements, and we do not engage with any entity that is in opposition to our mission and values.”
“Vitamin Angels envisions a world where everyone, everywhere, has a chance to fulfill their potential. We focus on improving nutrition because it is proven to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and poor health, and leads to greater economic success for individuals and entire communities.
“Today, more than three billion people worldwide largely in low-resource settings experience some form of malnutrition. Malnutrition occurs when a person lacks sufficient intake of energy and nutrients to meet an individual’s needs to maintain good health.
“Poor nutrition in infancy and childhood leads to economic disadvantages throughout an individual’s lifetime and spanning across generations. These economic disadvantages have a long-term negative impact on families, communities, and countries.
“To promote health and economic equity across the lifespan, Vitamin Angels focuses on nutritionally vulnerable populations during the first 1,000 days, when we can positively impact maternal nutrition and fetal growth, infant and young child morbidity and mortality, and ultimately break the cycle of malnutrition.”