Nigeria Health Watch
By Kenneth Ibe and Hadiza Mohammed (Lead Writers) Nutrition is a vital component of infant and young child development, and a major determinant of short and long-term health outcomes in children. The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) state that the most critical period for good nutrition is from the start […]
Breastfeeding provides essential nutrients to newborns and infants, which translate to proper growth and development from childhood to adulthood. There are many benefits to breastfeeding for both infants and mothers. These include, a reduced risk of infections, heart disease, obesity and others, for the infant and a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers, heart […]
Breast will always be bestThe importance of breastfeeding to improve the health and nutrition of infants and young children cannot be overemphasised. Breastfeeding gives children the healthiest start in life. It is sufficient and beneficial for nutrition in a baby’s first 6 months. Breast milk stimulates brain development and functions as an infant’s first vaccine. […]
These are some of the reasons Nigerian mothers give for why they are unable to exclusively breastfeed their babies in the first six months after giving birth. To experts, some of these reasons may seem like excuses, but with Nigeria’s exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) rates as low as 28%, this is far below the global goal […]
In Nigeria, exclusive breastfeeding is still not widely adopted. According to the 2016-2017 National Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) Report, only 23.7% of infants aged five months and below are exclusively breastfed with only 15.3% of all children receiving the minimum acceptable diet. This is an abysmal figure when compared to the exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) […]
The Bakassi Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Maiduguri is home to over 30,000 people. It is one of several IDP camps in Borno State where victims of the Boko Haram conflict, forced to abandon their homes, have taken refuge. As a result of this conflict, the longest (since 2009) and one of the deadliest Nigeria […]
Every first week of August Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate World Breastfeeding Week. Yet, if statistics are anything to go by, one might question what impact this 26-year long tradition has had on the rate of breastfeeding in Nigeria. Exclusive breastfeeding rates in Nigeria still remain dismally low, tottering between 17 – 25 […]