Overview
Child malnutrition — from underweight and stunting to severe forms like kwashiorkor (swollen malnutrition) and marasmus (severe wasting) — remains a major threat to Nigerian children, weakening immunity and impairing brain development. It often hides behind frequent infections and poor growth. Early recognition and proper feeding support recover most children fully.
Symptoms
- Poor weight gain or visible weight loss
- A child much smaller or shorter than peers
- Swollen feet, legs or face with skin and hair changes (kwashiorkor)
- Severe thinness with loose skin folds (marasmus)
- Frequent infections and slow recovery
- Weakness, irritability or unusual quietness
- Poor appetite
Causes & risk factors
- Inadequate food quantity or variety, especially protein
- Early stopping of breastfeeding or poor complementary feeding
- Repeated infections — diarrhoea, malaria, measles
- Poverty and food insecurity
- Poor feeding knowledge and practices
Treatment & self-care
Severe malnutrition needs urgent clinical assessment — therapeutic feeding programmes with ready-to-use therapeutic foods are available through many health centres, and complicated cases need admission. Moderate cases improve with enriched, frequent meals built from affordable local foods (eggs, beans, groundnut, fish, pap fortified properly) guided by a health worker or dietitian. Exclusive breastfeeding for six months, diverse complementary foods, immunisation and deworming prevent it.
See a doctor urgently if
- Visible wasting or swelling of the feet and legs — urgent
- A child refusing feeds or too weak to eat — emergency
- Weight loss or no weight gain over months
- Malnutrition with diarrhoea, fever or fast breathing
- A drowsy or floppy malnourished child — emergency