First Lady Hails Nigeria’s Health Team As FG Partners US Foundation To Fight Child Malnutrition

Nigeria is partnering with United States-based organisation Operation End Starvation to combat hunger and child malnutrition, with the Federal Government seeking to mobilise additional resources to tackle the country’s malnutrition burden.

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed this when he led a delegation from the organisation and other agencies under the ministry to meet with First Lady Oluremi Tinubu.

The meeting focused on securing the First Lady’s support for the initiative, which aims to strengthen Nigeria’s efforts to address hunger and prevent child deaths caused by severe malnutrition.

Pate reaffirmed the government’s commitment to tackling malnutrition through existing national programmes, highlighting the National Community Food Bank Programme launched in partnership with the Office of the First Lady.

He said the initiative was already making a positive impact across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.

“Nigeria is working hard to scale down its 6.4 million figure of acute child malnutrition, while also attending to the health of pregnant women and lactating mothers,” Pate said.

He added that several interventions were already underway to improve nutrition and healthcare outcomes across the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of Operation End Starvation, Williams Holdsworth Moore, said the organisation was seeking a partnership with Nigeria as part of its broader strategy to mobilise funding for the prevention of child deaths caused by starvation.

According to him, the initiative, supported by a macro grant from the United States government and other global philanthropists, aims to channel more than $1 billion annually towards ending starvation.

“The foundation is impressed by Nigeria’s focus on combating acute malnutrition, and we are seeking partnership for this global Operation End Starvation programme,” Moore said.

He added that the organisation intended to mobilise $1 billion to combat starvation across sub-Saharan Africa within the next two years.

“The burden is high, but the capacity is also very high,” he said, adding that the United States Department of State had approved Nigeria’s inclusion in the programme’s plans.

Moore also praised Nigeria’s health sector leadership, describing the country’s team as one of the best the organisation had encountered.

Responding, the First Lady commended the expertise and commitment of professionals serving across Nigeria’s ministries, describing the country’s current workforce as capable of delivering meaningful reforms.

“Nigeria has the best team in the health sector presently,” she said.

Tinubu praised her working relationship with Pate, Dr. Muyi and other officials, noting that she also collaborated with the Ministry of Education and other government institutions.

She said President Bola Tinubu’s administration was working towards overhauling the country’s systems and expressed optimism that Nigeria was gradually moving towards its desired goals.

“Nigeria deserves better, and there is nothing we give to her that is too much because if the system works, it will ultimately come back to us,” she said.

The First Lady assured the delegation that any assistance provided through the partnership would be put to effective use by the country’s health sector team.

Operation End Starvation, an initiative of the Eleanor Crook Foundation, is a public-private partnership nonprofit focused on ending global child malnutrition and deaths caused by starvation, particularly across sub-Saharan Africa.

Under the proposed collaboration, Nigeria is expected to serve as a primary location for demonstrating how large-scale investment, implemented through direct government partnerships, can deliver results in tackling child malnutrition over the next two years.

The partnership comes as Nigeria continues to confront the challenge of acute malnutrition, which affects children and heightens health risks for pregnant women and nursing mothers.