The United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF says good nutrition is beneficial to and achievable for all Nigerians.
Nutrition Officer, UNICEF Nkeiruka Enwelum, made the assertion in Enugu at a two-day media dialogue on “Sustainable Development Goals SDGs as Child Rights,” while presenting a paper on “Child Malnutrition Situation in Nigeria: An Overview”.
According to Enwelum, some benefits of good nutrition include increase in school participation by one year, raise in adult wages by five to 50 per cent among others.
She said that the consequences of malnutrition include impaired brain development and lower Intelligence Quotient (IQ), low birth weight, weakened immune system leading to increase in infectious diseases and premature death.
Enwelum said that malnutrition should be avoided at all costs through provision and eating of all classes of foods.
She added that failure to prevent and treat malnutrition could result in long term cognitive and growth impacts and loss of income for households and up to 15 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) loss for Nigeria.
