Dr Teresa Pounds, the Founder of West African Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (WASPEN), has called on government at all levels to address malnutrition in the hospital settings.

Pounds made the call at a virtual news briefing to herald the 2024 WASPEN Malnutrition Awareness Week, holding from Sept. 16 to Sept. 20 in five different locations in the country.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the Malnutrition Awareness Week is ‘Educate, Empower and Eliminate’.

According to the founder, there is urgent need for government and relevant stakeholders to recognise hospital malnutrition as a major health concern, while fostering deeper understanding among the public and healthcare personnel.

She explained that government focused more on addressing and eliminating malnutrition in communities and food security, without gi
ving adequate attention to malnutrition in the hospital settings.

She said: ‘There is need to have a system in place to assess and evaluate the nutrition status of patients in hospitals, but most hospitals don’t have enough dietitians or nutritionists.

‘There is urgent need for government to look towards this direction by giving all the needed support and financial requirements needed to ensure that patients get access to nutrition screening.

‘We cannot address malnutrition in communities without addressing malnutrition in the hospital setting. Both must be addressed to tackle and eliminate malnutrition.

‘Hospitals should set up a nutrition support committee that will involve doctors , nurses, dieticians, pharmacists and social workers that will ensure prompt access to nutrition care when patients are on admission.’

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On WASPEN’s roles and interventions in the country, the founder described the organisation as an innovative m
ultidisciplinary organisation focused on uniting dieticians, physicians, pharmacists and nurses on advancing clinical nutrition in Nigeria.

Pounds said the objective of the 2024 WASPEN malnutrition awareness week was targeted at educating healthcare workers and ensuring adequate nutrition care for patients in the hospital settings.

She said that WASPEN events would hold at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH) and Anambra State Primary Health Care Development Agency.

Others include the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) and Plateau Specialist Hospital.

NAN reports that WASPEN was founded in 2019 as a regionally-focused organisation committed to the improvement of clinical nutritional care in West Africa.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria