Topic: 2026 – Combating Malnutrition
Country: Nigeria
Delegate Name: Owen Baar
Country: Nigeria, the Federal Republic of
School: Grand Haven High School
Committee: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Topic: Combating Malnutrition
Malnutrition is a large problem in many countries, especially in underdeveloped nations. Children are especially vulnerable to malnutrition, which stunts their physical and mental growth, sometimes irreversibly, with cases of around a third of Nigerian children under 5 being stunted (“Understanding”). Children who have been malnourished for a prolonged amount of time can face the lethal condition of severe acute malnutrition, or SAM, which, if untreated, kills the child by rendering their digestive system unable to absorb nutrients or by weakening their immune system to be susceptible to common and rare diseases (“Child alert”). Fortunately, food has been designed to combat SAM and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), with ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) providing a 6-8 week recovery time for children with SAM. Cases of malnourishment in children can be traced to poverty, conflict and displacement, and disease outbreaks, and in Nigeria, unaffordable food prices deepen child malnourishment in the North (“Urgent”). Parents who are uneducated about malnutrition can also accidentally fuel child malnutrition by not providing children the adequate nutrients that they need. Uneducated parents may not be able to identify symptoms of malnutrition as well, which can result in children being rushed to overcrowded hospitals when their symptoms get deadly. Because of the lack of parents understanding the benefits, children may also not be exclusively breastfed during the first 6 months, which could harm the child’s development. Worsening malnourishment worldwide can also be attributed to the withdrawal of funding for food programs from the US and European countries, with overall funding from countries to the World Food Programme decreasing by USD 3.2 trillion dollars between 2024 and 2025 (“Contributions”).
The Federal Republic of Nigeria understands the harm of child malnutrition all too well. With nearly half of our population being under the age of 18, and malnutrition being an underlying cause of death for many, Nigeria takes this topic very seriously (Nigeria Health Watch). Around 45% of all deaths of children under 5 are because of underlying malnutrition, causing Nigeria to see malnutrition in children as a large threat to the health of our youth. (“Nutrition”). This concern is reflected in all levels of the government, from the federal level where the Nigerian Vice President has stated that malnutrition deprives 40% of children under 5 of their full physical and cognitive potential (“Urgent”), to the state level where the Jigawa State government has made their own programs to combat food insecurity by educating mothers on how to make nutritious meals and how to identify SAM in their children (Nigeria Health Watch).
Nigeria endorses many efforts to combat child malnutrition in our country, and emphasizes the need for foreign aid, cooperation with the government and communities, and educating parents. Foreign aid is critical, as it allows money to be distributed to Nigerian parents in the North who face unaffordable food costs and food supplies, especially in RUTF, which can help treat children who have SAM (“Urgent”). Unfortunately, a deduction of 3.2 trillion dollars of funding to the World Food Programme from other countries has caused 1.3 million Nigerians in the Northeast to no longer have the aid that the World Food Programme provided (“Urgent”). Supplies of RUTF and RUSF (ready-to-use supplemental food) for SAM and MAM, respectively, are essential, as they pave the road to a healthy child, and the food has a long shelf-life, and it can be responsibly used by parents, which alleviates pressure on overcrowded hospitals (“Understanding”). As a sort of silver lining, the lack of funding from other countries may be able to persuade them to fund factories that produce RUTF and RUSF in Nigeria and other countries facing high child malnutrition, which would long-term lessen the amount of food that countries need to send to the countries needing it. However, communication would be necessary to establish with the population, especially so that parents do not irresponsibly use RUTF, and so that parents can identify if their child has SAM or MAM. Such methods of communication can include local governments having seminars or even incentivizing the media to disseminate the information across the population.
Works Cited
“Child alert: Severe wasting | UNICEF.” Unicef, 16 May 2022, https://www.unicef.org/child-alert/severe-wasting. Accessed 10 February 2026.
“Contributions by year: World Food Programme.” UN World Food Programme, https://www.wfp.org/funding. Accessed 10 February 2026.
Nigeria Health Watch. “Masaki: A community’s approach to ending hunger and malnutrition in Jigawa State.” Nigeria Health Watch, 25 August 2025, https://articles.nigeriahealthwatch.com/masaki-a-communitys-approach-to-ending-hunger-and-malnutrition-in-jigawa-state/. Accessed 10 February 2026.
“Nutrition | UNICEF Nigeria.” Unicef, https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/nutrition. Accessed 10 February 2026.
“Understanding the malnutrition crisis in Nigeria.” Nuflower Foods & Nutrition, 28 February 2025, https://www.nuflowerfoods.com/blogs/understanding-the-malnutrition-crisis-in-nigeria/. Accessed 10 February 2026.
“Urgent: An alarming malnutrition crisis in Northern Nigeria.” https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/urgent-alarming-malnutrition-crisis-northern-nigeria. Accessed 10 February 2026.
