The West African Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (WASPEN) has launched its second annual Malnutrition Awareness Week, a campaign dedicated to tackling both community and hospital malnutrition across Nigeria and the West African sub-region.
The initiative, which runs from September 8th to 11th, is designed to raise awareness, drive advocacy, and promote coordinated action against what experts describe as one of the most pressing yet underreported public health challenges of the time.
In a press briefing, WASPEN President and Founder, Dr. Theresa Pound, said the campaign seeks to complement ongoing efforts against community malnutrition while drawing attention to the silent crisis of hospital malnutrition, which continues to affect patients’ chances of recovery.
“Nutrition is not a privilege for the few; it is a human right,” Dr. Pound declared, noting that surgical patients, children with fragile health conditions, cancer patients, and the elderly depend on adequate nutrition to survive and recover.
She added that poor nutrition within hospitals often leads to avoidable complications, prolonged admissions, and even preventable deaths.
Dr. Pound commended the Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Health for prioritizing community-level interventions to reduce hunger and child malnutrition.
However, she stressed that greater policy focus is needed on clinical and hospital nutrition, where many patients remain vulnerable due to lack of standardized nutrition protocols.
This year’s edition of the awareness week has attracted wider participation, with 17 Nigerian health institutions now actively involved compared to seven during the maiden edition.
WASPEN also revealed that the initiative has expanded beyond Nigeria’s borders, with institutions in Cameroon, Ghana, and Uganda joining the campaign for the first time.
Board member, Mrs. Sarah Ojei, explained that pilot projects in hospitals, including the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), show that patients suffering from malnutrition are more likely to experience delayed healing, reduced immunity, and increased medical costs.
She stressed that integrating nutrition screening and intervention into healthcare delivery must become standard practice across hospitals.
As part of the campaign, WASPEN has lined up a series of webinars featuring experts from Nigeria and abroad, including speakers from the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN).
These sessions will address themes such as optimizing patient care through standardized clinical nutrition protocols and integrating nutrition into health systems.
The association also plans to deepen collaborations with research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and professional bodies to advance evidence-based advocacy.
It added that efforts would be made to influence policy reforms that prioritize nutrition care at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of healthcare.
WASPEN emphasized that Malnutrition Awareness Week is not just an annual event but part of a broader strategy to transform nutrition into a core component of healthcare delivery.
The association maintained that improving nutrition is critical to saving lives, reducing hospital costs, and strengthening overall health outcomes across West Africa.
