Introduction

The DebateGraph is a visual representation of the forthcoming paper:

Nutritional Status in Northern Nigeria, Prevalence and Determinants: A Review of Evidence prepared for the ORIE Component of the WINNN Programme

...prepared by Richard Longhurst and Alex Cornelius with the oversight of Lawrence Haddad.

A review of findings on the determinants of under nutrition in northern Nigeria provides some evidence of the nature of the complex pathways between various levels of causes (immediate, underlying, basic) and interventions and policies, leading to some observations as to how far the global evidence on interventions to tackle undernutrition might be applied to the situation in northern Nigeria.

• The data show that the nutritional status of children in the northern states is among the poorest in Nigeria, with prevalence of stunting in the priority states being 52.6% compared to 41% nationally (2008 data). Time series data show that the situation is not improving over time.

• Key factors that have been significantly associated with child stunting include the mother’s education level, household wealth and the age of the child.

• The status of the deficiencies of micronutrients varies between 20-40%.

• In terms of factors related to immediate and underlying determinants, health care coverage, the basic quality of diet and breastfeeding practices are all poor.

The logic of this review is along the following lines:

1. The status data show that nutritional outcomes are very poor in northern Nigeria.


2. So what do the data and research say about the context, nature and determinants of this poor nutritional status?


3. What is the nature of this data, is it strong enough to say useful things about the context and outcomes and to identify the nature of risks? If not, what are the gaps in data and research?


4. On the basis of these informed research judgements, what are likely to be the best interventions to introduce to improve nutrition in Northern Nigeria? 


5. What is the evidence globally and from within Nigeria to back up these recommendations as to what will work?


6. What still needs to be done in terms of research to fill these gaps and develop effective interventions?