In a bid to promote the need for adequate nutrition intake among children, the Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), has called on the media to have a better understanding of effective reportage on nutrition in children in the country.
The call was made during a three-day capacity building workshop which was held June 1 to June 3, 2022 in Lagos.
The workshop: “Strengthening the capacity of journalists for improved nutrition reportage and visibility in Nigeria”, became necessary to fill the gap identified in the media on nutrition stories.
It has been medically proven that when a child is adequately fed and with a balanced diet it helps in the development of the child’s the cognitive domain and growth, helping them to life a healthy and smart life.
According to the NDHS 2018, Nigeria loses an average of two children to malnutrition every minute. This number is worrisome because it means about two thousand three hundred children die yearly from malnutrition.
Participants have shared their reactions and thoughts on the training…
Modupe Aduloju of Kapital FM said “I have learnt to put on my thinking cap and write stories that applies to different targets. The nutrition of different targets matters”.
Igbawase Ukumba of This Day Newspapers Nasarawa said “I learnt that I should do my research and findings properly before doing my report. I should not just write nutrition stories but go the extra miles to do findings to get out in-depth stories”.
“For me, I need to start breaking down figures properly and not just quote data while writing nutrition stories. I will now make data clearer for my audience to understand” said Femi Oyelola of Peoples Daily Newspaper, Kaduna.
According to Bassey Ita Ikpang of NTA International, Abuja, “I commend the facilitators. All the lectures were just coming to me and I said wow I’ve not done much on nutrition. I learnt that well fed children can add to the economy of the country. I will begin to so more stories on nutrition”.
“I tweeted a short report on the discussions from yesterday…Malnutrition can reduce childhood diseases. I’ve realized that we do not focus more on the integral part of our life; OUR NUTRITION because it is what we eat as a child that will grow us into a healthy adult. I will begin to do more stories on nutrition”, said Adelowore Olayinka Adenike of Eko FM Lagos.
Malnutrition impairs growth and development, decreases cognitive ability of a child, poor educational outcomes as well as reduces the economic advancement of the nation. As the saying goes ” Children are the future of any nation” therefore any country that refuses to invest in the nutrition of the children jeopardizes it’s growth and development and this invariably increases the poverty level of the nation.
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