FG Moves to Integrate Nutrition Into Primary Healthcare Nationwide
Says every antenatal, immunization contact must be nutrition opportunity
ABUJA – The Federal Government has unveiled plans to make nutrition delivery a core part of primary healthcare services across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas. The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, disclosed this on Wednesday at a side event on strengthening community nutrition, held on the sideline of the 2026 Joint Annual Review (JAR) at the Imo Hall, Transcorp Hotel, Abuja.The event was themed “From Commitment to Impact: Reaching Every Community with Nutrition.”
Dr. Salako said undernutrition remains a major driver of maternal and child deaths in Nigeria, accounting for about 45 percent of all deaths in children under five years, hence nutrition cannot be left outside the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.
“We cannot secure and advance our gains in the health sector with nutrition sitting outside the frame. Nutrition is a key foundation beneath the results we are celebrating, especially as it relates to maternal and child health,” he said.
The Minister noted that 42 months of the Tinubu administration and 35 months of the health compact have delivered measurable results – over 15,000 community-based health workers recruited, almost 80,000 frontline health workers retrained, facility-reported maternal and child deaths significantly down, antenatal visits and deliveries by skilled attendants up, and Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) utilization more than quadrupled. He said the improved delivery system should now be leveraged to deliver nutrition at community level.
“Every antenatal visit, every immunisation session and every home visit by a community health worker should be a nutrition contact, and that should be our design,” Dr. Salako stated.
According to him, community nutrition delivery must be integrated and not run in parallel, riding on routine PHC contacts such as antenatal care, immunisation, MNCH Week and community outreach. He listed the core nutrition package to be delivered at every PHC to include:
-Multiple micronutrient supplements for pregnant women – now on the Essential Medicines List, with local production in Kano and Lagos under the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC)
-Promotion of exclusive breastfeeding from 0-6 months and complementary feeding from 6-24 months and beyond
-Infant and young child feeding counselling
-Vitamin A supplementation and deworming
-Growth monitoring and early detection and treatment of wasting
The Minister said nutrition commodities must be financed and secured as part of the primary healthcare package and supply chain, calling on state governments to provide domestic resources and leverage matching mechanisms such as the Child Nutrition Fund. He stressed that nutrition requires a multi-sectoral approach, with agriculture, water and sanitation, education and social protection working with health to reach the same households.
Under the leadership of Vice President Kashim Shettima as Chairman of the National Council on Nutrition, he said the Nutrition 774 initiative provides a convergence framework of one goal, one plan, one budget and one report, mirroring the health sector’s Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp).
“Going forward, we commit to work with the office of the VP and the Ministry of Budget and Planning to make nutrition indicators sit inside the SWAp results framework and the JAR scorecards, not beside them,” he said.
Dr. Salako reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to work with states and local government health authorities to use the renewed health system as the community delivery platform for nutrition in all 774 LGAs.
“Looking ahead to the next JAR and the next phase of the Renewed Hope Agenda, success will be measured not only in stronger facilities, but in better-nourished mothers and children. From next year’s Joint Annual Review, we look to report on healthier and better nourished Nigerian children,” he added.
