1.
EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CONTROL
OF COMMON NUTRITIONAL
PROBLEMS IN NIGERIA.
Dr. S. A DEJI. MBChB, MPH FWACP
Lecturer/Consultant .
Dept. of Community Medicine,
College of Medicine ,
Ekiti State University Ado-Ekiti

2.
Epidemiology of undernutrition in Nigeria
• Malnutrition, especially undernutrition is a common problem in Nigeria,
especially in the rural settings of the country.
• Malnutrition is a direct or underlying cause of 45 percent of all deaths of under-
five children.
• Nigeria has the second-highest burden of stunted children in the world with a
national prevalence rate of 32 percent of children under five.

3.
Epidemiology of undernutrition in Nigeria
• An estimated 2 million children in Nigeria suffer from severe
malnutrition with only 2 out of 10 children being reached with
treatment.
• Seven percent of women of childbearing age also suffer from acute
malnutrition.

4.
Common nutritional challenges in Nigeria
Common nutritional challenges among children are;
• Stunting where height for age is less than expected using the z score
in which case the height for age is below the normal SD which
reflects chronic malnutrition.
• Underweight which could either be acute or chronic malnutrition in
which case the weight for age is below the normal SD.
• Wasting due to acute malnutrition with weight for height below the
normal SD standard for the age

5.
Common nutritional challenges in Nigeria
Protein Energy Malnutrition(PEM) comprises nutritional disorders such
as;
• underweight where the child weighs between 60 to 80 % of the
expected weight
• Kwashiorkor, child weighs between 60 to 80 % of the expected weight
with oedema
• Marasmus, child weighs below 60% of the expected weight without
pedal oedema.
• Marasmic-kwashiorkor, the child weighs below 60% of the expected
weight without oedema.

6.
Common nutritional challenges in Nigeria
• Micronutrient deficiencies such as;
• Vitamin A deficiency,
• IDD,
• IRA,
• folate def,
• Zinc def, etc

7.
Control of nutritional challenges in Nigeria.
• Health education
• Nutrirtion intervention program
• Healthy government policies.
• Improving equity in food resource distribution across the country.
• Addressing the problems of farmers’ herder crisis.
• Increasing the level of food fortification in locally available food items.
• Improving the socioeconomic status
• Enahcing intersectoral collaboration