CYRIACUS IZUEKWE
The Founder and President of West African Society of Parenteral and Internal Nutrition (WASPEN), Dr Teresa Pounds, has called on the Federal Government to support in creating awareness on Clinical/Community Nutrition in Nigeria.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that Dr Pounds stated this during the press conference in preparation for the June 17th, 2025 Clinical Nutrition conference to be held at the National Hospital at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Speaking on raising awareness on Clinical Nutrition Ahead of WASPEN 2025, Dr Pounds noted that the aim was to address hospital and community malnutrition seen as a silent but devastating condition often referred to as the skeleton in the hospital’s closet.
It is also to create awareness and collaborations between hospitals, universities, and the Federal Government; to discuss key strategies to bridge existing gaps in hospital and community malnutrition care.
This year’s conference, themed “Bridging the Gap: Integrating Hospital and Community Malnutrition Care in Developing Countries,” is said to be inspired by WASPEN’s successful Malnutrition Awareness Week, held in collaboration with the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN).
The conference is not just about discussions; it is about actionable plans and advocacy, with a call to action for key stakeholders to be involved in creating awareness for the community nutrition.
Dr Teresa Pounds stated that the 2025 event represents a significant step forward in a collective effort to address hospital and community malnutrition and the urgency in addressing malnutrition, which remains a major yet overlooked challenge in both acute hospital settings and community healthcare.
Teresa stated that many patients, particularly those with chronic illnesses, surgical conditions, and critical care needs, suffer from inadequate nutritional support, leading to longer hospital stays, increased complications, and higher mortality rates. She said as a professional society, WASPEN is committed to ensuring that specialized clinical nutrition interventions are not only recognized but also implemented as a fundamental part of healthcare practice in Nigeria and across West Africa.
WASPEN’s vision, she says, aims at creating ‘Centers of Excellence’ through conferences, now held in tertiary institutions, to raise awareness and foster strong collaborations between hospitals, universities and policymakers.
“One of the key objectives of WASPEN is to establish interdisciplinary steering committees in major institutions, tasked with advancing clinical nutrition advocacy and intervention.”
“WASPEN has commenced the groundwork for the ‘Clinical Nutrition’ initiative at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), and now Abuja, also planning to kick off an immediate multi-centered study on the prevalence and intervention of malnutrition in tertiary institutions to provide critical data to support national policies and drive sustainable change.
However, WASPEN is privileged to have an outstanding lineup of speakers and panelists, which includes:
Special Guest of Honour: Professor Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health
Professor Muhammad Raji Mahmud, Chief Medical Director, National Hospital Abuja (Host) Professor Audu Bala, President, Nigerian Medical Association (Keynote Address) Professor Cyril Usifoh, Former President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (Chairman) Prof. Chinedum Babalola, Former VC, Chrisland University (Special Guest Speaker) Tajudeen Olutope Ahmed, National President, Institute of Dietetics in Nigeria (keynote speaker)
Pharm Ibrahim Tanko Ayuba, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (Guest of Honour) Prof. Salisu Maiwada Abubaka, President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria (Guest of Honour) Comrade Haruna Mamman, President, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (Guest of Honour).
More also, for the first time in WASPEN’s five years in existence, it is introducing the “WASPEN Pre-Conference Workshop” in collaboration with Nutro Industrial Brazil. This session is created to provide a unique opportunity for healthcare professionals to develop their expertise in enteral nutrition and will be led by Professor Paulo Vasconcelos (Brazil) and Dr. Akhigbe Evelyn. The workshop will focus on indications, contraindications, and complications of enteral nutrition;The role of different disciplines in nutrition support;
Managing common adverse effects;
Developing plans for transitioning patients to home enteral nutrition; safe and effective feeding tube placement and management.
WASPEN is leading a call to action by involving stakeholders to actively engage and address the nonchalance of health practitioners to clinical nutrition and calls on His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. – To prioritize hospital malnutrition as a critical healthcare issue and drive national policies supporting specialized clinical nutrition interventions; the Federal Ministry of Health & State Ministries of Health; Hospitals and Healthcare Institutions; the Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD); Pharmaceutical and Nutrition Companies; and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to expand nutritional programs at the community level; Non-Governmental Organizations and Public-Private Partnerships to collaborate on funding, advocacy, and ensuring sustainability of clinical programmes.
The Local Organizing Committee Chairperson, Pharm Clara Adesola, expressed delight over National Hospital’s partnership with WASPEN to make health institutions aware of the importance of nutritional inclusion when attending to patients with diverse ailments.
She stated that the 2025 conference with the theme Bridging the Gap: Integrating Hospital and Community Malnutrition Care, is indeed timely to address the nutritional needs of patients across the country.
Adesola emphasized that it is paramount that the world, particularly Nigerians, understand how important nutrition should be valued. Malnutrition, she said, has affected a large number of patients regardless of their status. Once a patient (of any ailment) is admitted and diagnosed to have this condition (malnutrition), then there is a need for immediate treatment.
“In Nigeria, there are no stated statistics of patients suffering from malnutrition. Although all over the world, it is noted that about 20 to 50% of our patients in the hospital are diagnosed with this condition mildly, including children.UNICEF at random says 2 million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition, and only 2 out of 10 children suffering from malnutrition get accurate treatment.”Adesola stated.
Meanwhile, the risk associated with malnutrition includes increased infection, healthcare costs, and slow economic growth, which transcends to poverty. The need to take nutrition seriously in the clinic and the community is the reason the 2025 Clinical Nutrition conference will be done at the hospital.
Teresa, in conclusion, added that in time to come, WASPEN will hold conferences more than once yearly and might soon extend awareness to other West African countries.
