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26 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2022 ‘ How micronutrient deficiencies rob Nigerian children of optimal health • As experts worry over rising malnutrition cases THE United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, says babies’ brain develops at a pace that is never repeated in the first 1,000 days of life. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, millions of children miss such opportunities due to poor nutrition, resulting in permanent damage even till adulthood. Chioma Obinna writes. Nigeria has the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 32 per cent of children under five. An estimated 2 million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), but only two out of every 10 children affected are currently reached with treatment. Seven per cent of women of childbearing age also suffer from acute malnutrition. Six months after Cecilia Handa, 27, was duly certified married upon completion of the necessary marriage rites, her dream was to begin a family with her husband. As she desired, a few months later, she became pregnant. The news of her pregnancy, however, brought enormous joy to the young couple who had been in a relationship for five years before marriage. Cecilia who was residing in Abuja joined her husband in Benue. A few months later, fate struck; her husband fell into the knife of a killer herdsman. Shattered, Cecilia was broken, without a job, she struggle all through the nine months but fate was cruel to her and left her with little or nothing to eat on daily basis. Nine months after, she delivered a baby boy with low birth weight. There and then, trouble started and a few months later the child became malnourished. Cecilia’s child missed out on adequate nutrition from conception. The baby’s case is just one out of the estimated 2 million Nigerian children that suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), and only two out of every 10 affected are treated. Cecilia is also part of the 7 per cent of women of childbearing age who suffer from acute malnutrition due to poor diets. Worst still, global nutrition targets showed that Nigeria is not making progress towards achieving the target of reducing anaemia among women of reproductive age, with 55.1 per cent of women aged 15 to 49 years now affected. Rising malnutrition cases However, the escalating child malnutrition cases in Nigeria have also been traced to household food insecurity, widespread poverty and exponential population growth, inadequate care and feeding practices, and limited access to health Cross section of children and sanitation services which results in infection and diseases. Also, the World’s Children 2019: Children, food and nutrition finds that almost 2 in 3 children between six months and two years of age are not fed food that supports their rapidly growing bodies and brains. This puts them at risk of poor brain development, weak learning, low immunity, increased infections and, in many cases, death. Poor feeding practices The report warns that poor eating and feeding practices start from the earliest days of a child’s life. Though breastfeeding can save lives, in Nigeria, less than 50 per cent of children under six months of age are exclusively breastfed and an increasing number of children are fed infant formula. This means many Nigerian children are missing out on the life-saving benefits of breastmilk which is a baby’s first vaccine and offers the best possible nutrition at the start of life. Also, a UNICEF report entitled: “Fed to Fail? The Crisis of Children’s Diets in Early Life”, one in three children in Nigeria is very small while one in 10 children is wasted and the country is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 – “Zero Hunger” by 2030. While food insecurity and violence have continued to threaten adequate nutrition among children and adults at large, scientists say micronutrient deficiencies have been a major cause of malnutrition. According to the World Health Organisation, micronutrients are vitamins and minerals needed by the body in very small amounts. But their impacts on a body’s health are critical, and any deficiency can cause severe and even lifethreatening conditions. WHO added that micronutrient deficiencies can cause visible and 2 in 3 children between six months and two years are not fed food that supports their rapidly growing bodies and brains dangerous health conditions, but they can also lead to less clinically notable reductions in energy level, mental clarity and overall capacity that can to reduced educational outcomes, reduced work productivity and increased risk from other diseases and health conditions. Findings have shown that low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria bear the disproportionate burden of micronutrient deficiencies. The WHO says many of these deficiencies are preventable through nutrition education and the consumption of a healthy diet containing diverse foods and food fortification and supplementation, where needed. Corroborating WHO, the Manager, of Central and West Africa, (Anglophone countries), Nestlé Nutrition Institute, Dr Kanalio Olaloku, babies are at risk of developmental delays in pregnant women with iron deficiency and it is responsible for 50 per cent of anaemia cases, cognitive development impairment and reduced physical performance. It affects normal growth and development in children while inhibiting economic progress and increased healthcare costs.” According to medical experts, vitamins and minerals, also called micronutrients, are the building blocks for good health. People who do not have enough of these essential nutrients develop micronutrient malnutrition, which can be devastating. Consequences include serious birth defects, undeveloped cognitive ability, and reduced productivity. Severe micronutrient malnutrition contributes to maternal and infant deaths and childhood blindness. To address the malnutrition challenges, UNICEF recommended that the government, the Health professionals, EY harp on technology to bridge gaps in Nigeria's healthcare By Bolaji Babatunde WITH the COVID-19 pandemic exposing and widening gaps in healthcare infrastructure, health professionals have said that investments in technology supported by public-private partnerships will bridge the gap in healthcare infrastructure as well as improve the poor health indices in Nigeria. The experts who spoke during the 2022 Ernst & Young (EY) annual healthcare conference themed: ‘Accelerating Access to quality healthcare in Nigeria’ noted that Nigerians are faced with several challenges including pipeborne water. Speaking, Founder/CEO First Cardiologist, Adeyemi Johnson who delivered the keynote address called said that Nigeria needs the political will to turn things around in the health sector. Johnson who noted that one of the advantages of the new Health Insurance Act, NHIA, which makes it mandatory for individuals to be insured said investment in health technology was the sure way to bridge gaps between Nigeria's health sector and the developed world. He said Nigeria can leverage technology for healthcare delivery as advocated by stakeholders in the sector that the country adopts a mobile phone-type initiative with the capacity to accommodate everybody. “Technology is now helping to do surgeries and other lifesaving procedures. In most cases, you don’t have to be there to deliver care. Though expensive but it can get us there.” “Part of the technical improvement will be data collection; with data, a lot can be done. Technology is going to get us out of this mess we are in quicker than we think.” Speaking, the Senior Partner/Head of Markets, Ernst & Young (EY) West Africa, Mr. Ashish Bakhshi said publicprivate- partnership will help to deliver more joint ventures; more hospitals and better healthcare delivery outcomes private sector, donors, parents, families and businesses should help children grow healthy by investing more resources in interventions aimed at preventing malnutrition among young children and supporting treatment when prevention fails, supporting nursing mothers to adequately feed and care for their children, empowering flies, children and young people to demand nutritious food, including the vision of improved nutrition education and using proven legislation – such as sugar taxes – to reduce demand for unhealthy foods among others. for Nigerians. In an interview with journalists, he said: “Healthcare is very important to Nigeria and EY globally believes every country needs to have a good healthcare system and as a consulting firm we try to help both public and private organisations. He said Nigeria can develop its healthcare infrastructure to curb medical tourism, as well as help Nigerians, get easy access to healthcare services along the entire value-chain of the healthcare ecosystem in Nigeria. “One of the expected outcomes of the annual healthcare conference would be more education on what can be done about healthcare delivery service. EY has a very strong CSR programme and part of that is helping to set up science laboratories”. Also speaking in a chat, the Partner, Strategy & Transactions/Consumer Goods Industry Leader, EY West Africa, Damilola Aloba who moderated one of the sessions explained that the conference was put together to create awareness about the challenges facing the country as well as find solutions to them/ Aloba explained that the conference brought together healthcare providers and other stakeholders to talk about the challenges in the sector, ways to revert them and how the country can ensure sustainable financing for healthcare as well as achieving self-sufficiency in pharmaceutical products. “At the end of the day, we will make sure that some of the key actions are implemented for example how to drive health insurance above the 5 per cent, how health providers can have access to funding etc, we cannot be importing drugs all the time. It will also prevail on government to take the sector from its present challenges by adopting the practical initiatives to address brain drain, dearth of infrastructures etc,”
Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2022 — 27 2023: APC, opposition parties bicker over digital vote-buying allegations Continues from Page 5 tion anytime they see such questionable transactions of vote buying in their banks. ''We also call on the EFCC to be on the lookout for such. Any political party, which desires to send money to agents should be compelled to send the bank an acknowledged copy of the official list of agents submitted to INEC. ''This will help forestall any unreasonable claims that they are paying agents. It must also be noted that there is only one agent per polling unit for a political party; hence any claim that the data being harvested is those of party agents is dead on arrival. "Again we call on the Police, the DSS, and the EFCC to immediately swing into action and arrest the harvesters of these bank details. If security agencies claim they do not know who harvested them, we now tell them to apprehend the persons whose identities are contained in these documents and, from there, get the identities of who harvested them.'' Confidence vote on INEC Passing a vote of confidence in INEC chairman, the CUPP spokesman said: "INEC has since conducted internal inquests and has identified all staff involved with external collaborators to compromise the voter register. In a few weeks, we expect to see prosecutions commence. There must be consequences for such crimes. "It is based on the removal of over 2.7 million unqualified registrants, conducting of an internal inquiry into the Omuma Magic compromise of our national voter register to identify the staff involved, and publishing the voters register on its website that the opposition family unanimously passed a vote of confidence on the National Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and the National Commissioners. ''He has so far shown courage, wisdom, commitment, faith, and capacity to ensure that the 2023 general election is transparent, credible, free, fair, and acceptable. He has also, by the publication, proven beyond reasonable doubt that INEC, at the highest level, is not complicit in the compromise of the register and that he has nothing to hide.” The opposition parties urged all Nigerians to be part of the electoral process, adding that they had also observed under-aged voters as well as duplicated photos and names on Naira appreciates to N445.38/ $ in I&E window By Elizabeth Adegbesan THE naira yesterday appreciated to N445.38 per dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window. Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for the window fell to N445.38 per dollar from N445.67 per dollar last week Friday, indicating 29 Kobo appreciation for the naira. However , the naira depreciated by N5 in the parallel market yesterday. Vanguard findings from black market traders showed that the exchange rate for the market rose to N785 per dollar from N780 per dollar last week Friday. INEC register. "At the Secretariat, we have noticed massive under age registration, duplicated photos and names, particularly in states like Kano, Borno, Katsina, Jigawa and Kaduna States. ''These observations are already being sent to the commission and Nigerians should be assured that every valid complaint will be considered and action taken by the commission as they have assured us that all objections will be addressed. This is why they published the register online and at ward and LGA levels.'' From left: Chris Wuiff-Caesar,Marketing Director,FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc;Osamede Uwubanmwen,President ,Advertisers Association of Nigeria[ADVAN] Olu Akanmu,Guest Speaker/President and Co CEO Opay;Ediri Ose-Ediale,CEO/Executive Director,ADVAN and Temitope Ashiwaju,Group Corporate Communications & Event Manager,Dufil Prima Foods Plc at the 2022 Advan African Awards for Marketing Excellence;THEME;Marketing as a Tool for Sustainable Economic Development held in Lagos over the weekend. Photo Akeem Salau Gbajabiamila, NILDS DG lambast govs for stopping lawmakers' return to NASS By Levinus Nwabughiogu ABUJA-Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the Director-General, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, NILDS, Professor Abubakar Suleiman, have blamed state governors over high turnover of lawmakers in the National Assembly. It will be recalled that majority of the senators and the members of the House of Representatives lost their returning ticket after the primary elections of most political parties earlier this year. The two leaders, while delivering their addresses at the 2022 Press Week and Award Presentation of the House of Representatives Press Corps (HoRPC) in Abuja yesterday, attributed the development to the high-handedness and selfishness of most governors, who were opposed to the tickets of many lawmakers. For Gbajabiamila, who was represented at the event by the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Peter Akpatason, the turnover affected legislative advancement and caused loss of institutional memories in Nigeria's democratic journey. He said: "We want to assure you that this house will continue to do the best to support the Nigerian peo- •Say legislature needs competent, experienced lawmakers to thrive•As Reps' spokesman, Clerk, others task media on political awareness campaigns ple, to serve the Nigerian people and to make and support laws that will continue to protect the interest of Nigerians and provide for Nigerians the kind of leadership that is required. I am sure you saw what happened during the ASUU crisis the role played by the speaker of the people. Those are the kind of things that this Assembly pays so much attention to and emphasis so much. ''To ensure that at any point in time, when intervention is needed we are there for the people and we cannot do this without your continuous support. You have been there for us and you have supported us in every way. 'We appreciate this and wish to continue to partner with you in everyway that we can so that you can also do your job efficiently. The professor had already said it, he has seen it all both in the exec- that we can do to ensure that we have an efficient legislative arm is to maintain and sustain the experience already acquired by those who have been in service for quite some time. "That is not a recommendation for service in perpetuity, what it means is that for beautiful length of time, let's have these people come over again to add to what is already on ground and also rely on their experience and competencies acquired from various services to better the lot of Nigerian people through lawmaking, oversight and allow what not.” Professor Suleiman, who was the guest lecturer, who presented the paper, titled "High Turnover of Lawmakers: Impact and Way Forward,'' said frequent changing of lawmakers would prevent a state from producing presiding or principal officers. "The executive ...it deterutive arm of government as well as the legislative arm of government. "The legislature, as the bastion of democracy can do their job very well only when you have a stock of competent and experienced human beings. A federal turnover is a serious problem, serious in the sense that, the older the better, the more experienced the better legislature. The best legislators are legislators, who have seen it from every angle but you cannot come in and do one term and say you have seen. How much have you seen actually? How much would you know in National Assembly in four years? "He did say that when there is military rule, you have the Executives, you have the Judiciary but the only one that is missing is always the legislature. And so now that we are lucky to have democracy, the best Presidency: El-Rufai never said Tinubu too old, says APC Campaign Council By Ibrahim Hassan- Wuyo KADUNA-The All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, in the North West, yesterday dismissed insinuations that Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El- Rufai, said the party's presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was too old to be president. Spokesperson for the North -West (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Muhammad Shehu Molash, said the rumour in circulation that El-Rufai said that in a short video clip was the handiwork of mischief makers. He said: "Social media space has recently been brimming with a mischievously circulated video of Governor el-Rufai, ostensibly, making reference to Tinubu, but to set the records straight, the said interview was conducted months ago, where El-Rufai was asked variety of questions, ranging from the rumoured vice presidential bid to a purported ministerial ambition and senatorial bid, which 'mischief makers' alleged he has asked his earthswhile chief of staff to vacate his ticket for him. "El-Rufai responded intelligently (in the video clip) by reminding the reporters that having been a minister 20 years ago and governor since 2015, he is contented with what the Almighty has done for him." "He further added that as a mentor, who has raised capable mentees, he ought to give way for the younger generation to play their role in the next government, even though Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu himself is still insisting that he must be part of the incoming government in 2023 God's willing. ''That was the part that they have been mischievously circulating with a different subject to suit their sinister agenda. "Recall that at the KADINVEST 7.0 in Kaduna, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had to publicly threaten not to leave the podium untill he extracted a commitment from El-Rufai that he will work with him. "With almost 23 million voters; President Buhari; six of seven governors;15 senators; a third of APC members in the House of Reps, among hundreds of state Houses of Assembly members, the North West geopolitical is the most politically comfortable zone for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC in general. ''Therefore, desperate politicians and political hawks have resorted to 'cut and join campaign of calumny' to create a political upheaval in the APC's biggest stronghold in Nigeria. mines how we breath, it determines what we do, determines our movement, determines our promotion. Most of the people that are not coming back to the Senate and House of Representatives today are on account of executive rascality and that must stop.” In his remarks, spokesman of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, Clerk of the House, Dr. Yahaya Danzaria, the country representative of KONRAD, Marija Peran, and the Chairperson of the HoRPC, Grace Ike, lauded the synergy that existed between the legislature, especially the House and the media.While Kalu urged the media to embark on aggressive enlightenment campaign on the new electoral law to properly educate the masses, ahead of the 2023 elections, Peran pledged more capacity workshops for members of the Corps. "Apparently, APC's presidential campaign flagoff in Jos, where President Buhari, all the 22 APC state governors, all APC chieftains and millions of party supporters attended, has rattled them, hence,their incessant attempt to create a rift between our presidential candidate and one of his front line 'political commanders' in the North West. "The North West APC Presidential campaign shall continue to focus on winning all the seven states,186 local governments and 2004 wards in the zone for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, regardless of the endless distractions by these political entrepreneurs. "The political harmony in the APC, various infrastructural development projects by the APC- led administration and improved security in the North West, particularly in Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara states, has obviously left them without cheap political points to hang on to.''
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