Group Convenes Multi-Sectoral Conference to Address Hospital Malnutrition

Esther Oluku

Social service group, West African Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (WASPEN) has called together a multi-sectoral conference of professionals in the healthcare industry to address a pressing healthcare challenge across Africa, hospital malnutrition.

The Founder and President of WASPEN, Dr. Teresa Pounds, speaking at a press conference which held yesterday, noted that the conference is an opportunity to garner public awareness and organise nation wide response through research and policy action towards ending this health challenge.

Hospital malnutrition is a situation where patients in hospitals lack the requisite nutritional balance to support their recovery making for supplementary medical intervention to support nutritional balance and aid recovery in patients.

According to Pounds, this year’s conference which will be heled in collaboration with National Hospital, Abuja, is billed to hold from June 7th to 19th, 2025, and boasts of robust representation from the public and private sectors.

Pounds stated that while the conference brings stakeholders together this June, WASPEN’s long term plan in partnership with the Lagos University Teach Hospital is to reach an agreement on a research study in collaboration with health institutions across the country’s six geo-political zones to examine the level of malnutrition in hospitalised patients. This data, she said, will strengthen public awareness and drive targeted policy intervention to address this silent yet deadly health menace.

Over the course of three days, participants will be engaged to keynote addresses and expert panel sessions from across clinical, academic, and regulatory spheres; case studies, poster sessions, product showcases; and the inauguration of the Nutrition Steering Committee at National Hospital, Abuja.

Participants at the event will include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, and nutritionists from the medical field; representation from professional bodies including the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN), and Institute of Dietetics in Nigeria (IDN); stakeholders in governmental and non-governmental organization; and members of the academia, pharmaceutical companies, and researchers.

On his part, the Chief Medical Director, National Hospital Abuja, Prof. Muhammad Raji Muhamud represented by the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC) of the hospital, Dr. Isiaka Lawal acknowledged that hospital-based malnutrition is a severe issue, exacerbated by poverty levels of families.

“A lot of patients come in very malnourished and before they have their surgery they are referred to us. Hospital malnutrition is a very severe problem and the poverty level of some of these families is responsible for the increase.

“The National Hospital has a department responsible for hospital nutrition so when there is a patient with malnutrition, they are managed. With our collaboration with WASPEN, we intend to improve what we have on ground in management of patients with malnutrition,” he said.

In her final charge, Pounds said: “We are calling on the Federal Government to take the lead in establishing a multi-sectoral national task force dedicated to the continued awareness, policy reform, and delivery of practical solutions to combat hospital malnutrition.

“WASPEN is committed to supporting this effort with evidence, expertise, and partnership, but it must be driven as a national priority with long-term sustainability in mind.”