The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, through its Nutrition Department, has said that Nigeria is making commendable progress in strengthening its nutrition information system to support evidence-based planning, coordination, and accountability in the nutrition sector.
The ministry disclosed at the Second Quarter 2026 Meeting of the National Nutrition Technical Working Group (NNTWG), held from June 24 to 25 in Abuja. It, however, noted that despite the significant progress recorded so far, much more still needs to be done.
The 2026 NNTWG meeting, themed “Strengthening Nutrition Routine Information System,” attracted more than 140 participants, who attended physically and virtually.
Participants, drawn from federal and state ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), the Office of the Vice President, development partners, implementing partners, civil society organisations, academia, regulatory bodies, and State Nutrition Officers from the six geopolitical zones, affirmed that an effective nutrition response depends on a functional, standardised, and reliable information system.
While noting that findings from the 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) showed that 40 per cent of children aged 6–59 months are stunted, 8 per cent are wasted, and 27 per cent are underweight, the ministry expressed concern that exclusive breastfeeding remains suboptimal at 29 per cent. It also noted that micronutrient deficiencies persist, with 30 per cent of children deficient in vitamin A and 31 per cent affected by anaemia.
“These figures remind us that, despite the progress made, much work remains to be done, as data quality is directly linked to the systems and processes that generate it,” the ministry said.
As discussions focused on improving the National Health Management Information System (NHMIS), participants observed that weaknesses in standardisation and digitisation continue to result in fragmented reporting, delayed decision-making, and inefficiencies in service delivery.
The NHMIS was reviewed and validated in 2024 and 2025 to incorporate updated nutrition indicators and strengthen monitoring and decision-making.
“The revised tools now include key nutrition data elements such as Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS), Small Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (SQ-LNS), Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food (RUSF), birth weight, and early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
“These tools were pilot-tested in six states—Benue, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ogun, Cross River, and Ebonyi—followed by the national validation of Primary Health Care (PHC) tools in May 2026.”
Participants observed that delays in the nationwide rollout of the revised NHMIS tools have led to the continued use of parallel data collection systems by partners, thereby undermining efforts to harmonise reporting and strengthen nutrition logistics systems.
The meeting also reviewed progress on the Nigeria Health Logistics Management Information System (NHLMIS), the country’s first integrated health logistics platform, which provides end-to-end visibility of commodity availability across the health system.
“Significant progress was recorded, including the expansion of nutrition commodities on the platform from five to 23. These include RUTF, F-75, F-100, RUSF, MMS (all variants), SQ-LNS, MNP, ORS, zinc sulphate, albendazole, iron-folic acid, vitamin A, and other essential nutrition commodities.
“Twenty-three states have been trained and are actively reporting live nutrition commodity data through the NHLMIS, which commenced on October 1, 2025, with 185 health facilities reporting for the first time, thereby providing visibility down to the health facility level.
“These achievements are significant, but they must be consolidated and scaled up nationwide. The system also integrates State Nutrition Officers and Local Government Area Nutrition Focal Persons into the logistics reporting structure.”
Participants also noted that more than 1,774 government personnel across 23 states had been trained following the review and validation of the NHMIS tools on May 13–14, 2026. The exercise established the inclusion of nutrition data elements in Antenatal Care (ANC) Registers, Labour and Delivery Registers, Growth Monitoring Registers, and the corresponding summary forms.
However, participants expressed concern over persistent challenges, including parallel procurement and distribution systems, the risk of commodity diversion and expiry, and weak integration of logistics data into planning and decision-making processes.
They also called for sustained collaboration among government institutions, development partners, civil society organisations, and academia to accelerate progress towards achieving Nigeria’s national nutrition goals.
“The National Nutrition Technical Working Group continues to serve as Nigeria’s central platform for technical coordination, evidence generation, and alignment of nutrition interventions across all levels of government.”
