WASPEN Launches Malnutrition Awareness Week 2026, Urges Hospitals To Prioritise Nutrition In Patient Care

KINGSLEY EBERE 

The West African Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, WASPEN, has officially launched Malnutrition Awareness Week 2026 with a strong call for hospitals across Nigeria to integrate nutrition into routine patient treatment.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, WASPEN President and Founder, Dr. Teresa Isichei Pounds, said the 2026 theme, “Nutrition is a Team Effort”, highlights the need for doctors, nurses, dieticians, pharmacists and other health workers to collaborate in tackling malnutrition at all levels of care.

Dr. Pounds commended the federal government for recent efforts to address nutrition, including the Nutrition 774 Initiative and the newly approved National Policy on Food and Nutrition 2026–2035. However, she noted that patients receiving treatment in hospitals are often left out of nutrition interventions.

“Many patients come into our hospitals already malnourished. Others become malnourished while on admission due to illness, surgery, cancer treatment or critical care. Yet, nutrition is still not treated with the same urgency as drugs and surgery,” she said.

Drawing from WASPEN’s 5th Clinical Nutrition Conference held in Asaba and recent community outreach in Delta State, Dr. Pounds stressed that the fight against malnutrition must connect both community programmes and hospital care. She said screening for nutrition risk, assessment, and support should be built into everyday hospital practice, just like taking vital signs.

According to her, early identification and treatment of malnutrition can shorten hospital stays, reduce complications, lower treatment costs, and improve recovery rates.

“As health professionals, we must stop waiting until malnutrition becomes severe before we act. Nutrition support should begin at admission and continue through discharge and recovery,” she added.

As part of activities for Malnutrition Awareness Week 2026, WASPEN will host two webinars this week. The sessions will focus on the roles of different health professionals in nutrition care and on developing practical nutrition care pathways, from screening to recovery.

Dr. Pounds urged the federal and state governments, hospital managements, professional health bodies, and development partners to take deliberate steps to strengthen nutrition structures within health facilities.

She called for investment in training to build staff competencies, and for systems to be put in place to provide both enteral and parenteral nutrition support where needed. Enteral nutrition involves feeding through a tube, while parenteral nutrition delivers nutrients directly into the bloodstream.

She also appealed to the public to see nutrition as a shared responsibility. “Malnutrition is not just a community problem. It is a healthcare problem, a team problem, and a national problem. If we are serious about improving health outcomes in Nigeria, then nutrition must be part of every conversation in every hospital ward,” Dr. Pounds said.

Health experts at the briefing agreed that Nigeria cannot achieve better health indices without addressing hidden hunger in hospitals. They noted that many chronic conditions, post-surgical complications, and slow recoveries are linked to poor nutrition care.

WASPEN said it will continue to work with government agencies, hospitals, and civil society groups to promote awareness, advocate for policy implementation, and train health workers on best practices in clinical nutrition.

The Society concluded by urging Nigerians to use the awareness week to ask questions about nutrition in hospitals and to demand that facilities have clear nutrition screening and support protocols.