Impact of nutrition on productivity and healthy growth of nations

Impact of nutrition on productivity and healthy growth of nations

Nigeria has seen great socio-economic improvement compared to its past years. The problem of malnutrition still troubled some of its citizens. It has long been hampered by political instability, corruption, inadequate infrastructure and poor macroeconomic management. This has led them to become overly dependent on the capital-intensive oil sector, which provides 20% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings and about 65% of budget revenues. But certain government and economic reforms have brought many improvements, ranging from an estimated increase in their GDP from $430 per capita in 2003 to $1,000 in 2005. The unemployment rate was reduced from 3.2% in 1997 to 2.9% in 2005. Microfinance banking and bank liquidation and consolidation by the CBN resulted in Nigerian banks being ranked as one of the best in Africa. The highlight of the whole thing was the historic debt cancellation worth $30 billion out of the $37 billion that Nigeria had to the Paris Club in March 2006, with malnutrition and 60% below the poverty line in 2000. For clarity, I have categorized the Nigerian nutrition problem into undernutrition, overnutrition and micronutrition. The purpose of this article is to review the government's efforts and suggest ways to free the country from the alienating hands of poverty that threatens the country's future.

NUTRITIONAL PROBLEMS.

Although the three nutritional problems represent a summary of the country's malnutrition problem, it is good to look at the whole problem one by one. Malnutrition is one of the biggest nutritional problems, affecting mostly people in rural areas and some of those who left for the city in search of greener pastures. Malnutrition is characterized by inadequate intake of macronutrients (namely: calories and protein). According to President Obasanjo, “almost half of children aged 7+-13 years in Nigeria are underweight.” Many children and adults go to bed starving, some eat one meal a day, and most of those meals consist of carbohydrates. This leads to malnutrition and protein deficiency. It is the main cause of Kwashiorkor, which is rather unique to people living in the tropical region of Africa. For adults, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.79 g per kg (0.36 g per 1b) of body weight per day. For children and infants, this RDA is doubled or tripled due to their rapid growth. This is the main cause of stunted growth and deformities in growing children. A fifth of Nigerian children die before the age of five, especially among millions of Nigerians who also live on less than a dollar a day, while others survive by begging on the streets.

Overnutrition is mainly the problem of adults and a few young people, especially urban dwellers. It is a rapidly escalating public nutrition problem that mainly reflects a change in dietary habits and a more sedimentary lifestyle. The situation in Nigeria, where the economy favors one group over others, the poor getting poorer while the rich get richer, has resulted in a higher percentage of overnutrition - the Nigerian Big Man Disease. This nutritional problem is now resulting in an alarming increase in diet-related chronic diseases such as type II diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and several diet-related cancers. These chronic diseases have been responsible for human suffering, social suffering, lost productivity, and economic burdens on healthcare and other economic sectors. The increase in the country's owned population affects the country's workforce and the country's productivity both currently and in the near future.

Last but not the list is micronutrient deficiencies. It is the inadequate intake of important vitamins and minerals. It is experienced by both the poor and the rich, rural and urban dwellers. It is hunger that is hidden under the cloak of sufficiency in Nigerian society. A deficiency of vitamins and minerals leads to irreversible impairment of the child's physical and mental development. For this reason, this type of malnutrition is concentrated in pregnant women and children. According to some empirical conclusions, even moderate iodine deficiency during fetal development and childhood has been observed to reduce intelligence quotient by 10-15 points. Folic acid deficiency is linked to serious birth defects. Insufficient iron impairs children's growth and learning ability, reducing their ability to concentrate, participate fully in school and society, interact and develop; it also contributes to material mortality and reduced labor productivity. It is known that 40% of children under 5 years of age suffer from vitamin A deficiency.

Nigeria's three major nutritional problems pose a major challenge to the country's flagging economy and have led to falling imports of expensive protein-rich foods, oil and animal feed. Many parents are now giving up the task of breastfeeding and all these and many others contribute to the risk of malnutrition in Nigeria and more than that, it is now undergoing a rapid socio-economic revolution.

GOVERNMENT ACTION BEFORE DEMOCRACY

The Nigerian economy was dominated by agriculture and trade, which flourished during colonial rule in the 19th century. In the 1960s and 1970s, the petroleum industry developed, leading to greatly increased export revenues and enabling massive investments in industry, agriculture, infrastructure and social sciences.

The sharp decline in oil prices, economic mismanagement and continued military rule characterized Nigeria in the 1980s. In 1983, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) began assisting the Nigerian federal and state departments of health in developing and implementing family planning and child survival programs. In 1992, an HIV/AIDS prevention and control program was added to existing health activities. USAID provided $135 million for bilateral assistance programs for the period 1986 to 1996, when Nigeria implemented an initially successful structural adjustment program but later abandoned it. Plans to provide $150 million in assistance between 1993 and 2003 were interrupted by tensions in U.S.-Nigeria relations over human rights abuses, the failed transition to democracy, and a lack of cooperation from the Nigerian government on anti-drug trafficking issues. By the mid-1990s, these problems led to restrictions on USAID activities that could benefit the military government. Existing health programs were redesigned to focus on work by Nigerian NGOs and community groups at the grassroots level.

In 1987, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) was launched under the leadership of principal researcher Dr. Kenton Dashiell an ambiguous effort in Nigeria to combat widespread malnutrition. They promoted the use of low-nutrient, economical soybeans in daily diets. They further said that soybeans are about 40% richer in protein than any other plant or animal food source found in Africa. By adding corn, rice and other grains to soybeans, the resulting protein meets the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) standard. Soybeans also contain about 20% oil, which is 85% unsaturated and cholesterol-free. Although many fine malnutrition alleviation programs began during this period, there were many other socio-economic thorns that hindered the popularity and smooth functioning of these programs until the democratic period. The economic instability during this period promoted high levels of malnutrition due to the autocratic government. There were little or no in-depth efforts to combat malnutrition. The period can be described as the selfish period when the state private interest dominated at the expense of the suffering masses.

THE LATER INTERVENTION

The most interesting thing about this time is that it is filled with promise and hope. Promise, which is the most important working tool of this time, and the ever-present hope of maintaining the promise. President Obasanjo, in a meeting with the President of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences in 2002, pledged to support better coordination of nutrition activities and programs in Nigeria, further saying: “The high prevalence of malnutrition is completely unacceptable to this government and he assured the IUNS President that he would do everything to ensure that resources available to improve household food security, improve access to health services and improve maternal care capacity, including support for breastfeeding promotion.

On September 27, 2005, Nigerian Presidential Chairman Olusegun Obasanjo had lunch at Laminga Primary School under the Nasarawa State School Feeding Program. The program is fully funded and managed by Nasarawa State, making it a unique model in Africa today. The groundbreaking event fulfills one of the promises to combat malnutrition, particularly among children, many of whom he observed are underweight between the ages of 7 and 13. It also promises to reach around 27 million children in the next 10 years.

Other international bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was founded in 1992 but gained a stronger foothold during the democratic regime. All of them and many more are fighting vigorously to eradicate poverty and malnutrition.

There are many challenges that exist in some nutritional improvement programs. There is a need for the government to incorporate nutrition research into national policy. You should be able to reach the nooks and crannies of the country. They should be able to coordinate all areas of malnutrition agencies. A more effective intervention is urgently needed.

Today, nutrition is a topic of intervention and at the same time the unavoidable duty of every nation. Although it is difficult to provide a solution to every person, the government should try to reach people as much as possible through mobile agencies and mass media. A lot of effective research should be conducted in the nation to be updated with information such as: average government investment in nutrition per capita, current statistics on nutritional deficiencies and information on nutrition initiatives, as well as national policy frameworks and inter-agency coordination mechanisms. There is a need to promote nutrition organizations, especially non-governmental organizations. The government should try to improve the socio-economic life of the people. Agriculture should be promoted and improved in the country. The nutritional value of every product, both imported and non-imported, should be checked. The government should promote a global nutrition agenda that would increase the visibility of nutrition at the national level and beyond.

If these solutions suggested above were taken into account, Nigeria would greatly improve as a giant of Africa and a future giant of the global economy, thereby eliminating the future economic storm that Nigeria is facing because some of its citizens are suffering from food insecurity.