Alarm Bells As Child Malnutrition Worsens: WHO, Lawmakers Move To Tackle Nigeria’s Nutrition Crisis
For millions of Nigerian children, the right to grow, learn and thrive is still being threatened by poor nutrition, and the latest figures show the crisis may be deepening.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised fresh concerns over Nigeria’s malnutrition burden, revealing that key indicators have either stagnated or worsened since 2018.
In a post shared by WHO Nigeria on X, the Country Representative, Dr Pavel Ursu, disclosed that he met with the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, chaired by Chike John Okafor, to strengthen collaboration aimed at reversing the troubling trend.
According to data from the 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), child wasting has increased from 7 per cent to 8 per cent, underweight prevalence has risen sharply from 22 per cent to 27 per cent, while stunting has climbed from 37 per cent to 40 per cent.
Exclusive breastfeeding remains low at 29 per cent.
The figures paint a worrying picture for Africa’s most populous nation, where undernutrition continues to limit children’s physical and cognitive development and undermine long-term national productivity.
WHO stressed that with renewed political will, evidence-based policies and stronger nutrition systems, Nigeria has a real opportunity to accelerate progress and safeguard the future of millions of children.
The meeting with lawmakers signals growing urgency at the policy level, but experts say sustained investment and coordinated action will be critical to turning statistics into survival stories.
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