The West African Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (WASPEN) has called for greater attention to clinical nutrition and nutrition care in Nigeria’s hospitals.

It stressed that malnutrition is not limited to food insecurity and community health.

President and Founder of WASPEN, Dr. Teresa Isichei Pounds, made the call at a virtual press conference ahead of the 2026 Malnutrition Awareness Week, scheduled for September 22 and September 24.

The Awareness Week with the theme; “Nutrition is a Team Effort” is organised in collaboration with the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN).

Pounds said as Nigeria strengthens its national nutrition architecture, greater attention should be paid to patients who are already sick and receiving care in hospitals.

“As we commend this progress, we must also ask an important question: How do we ensure that our national nutrition efforts reach every person who needs nutrition care, including those who are already sick and receiving care in our hospitals?” she asked.

According to her, malnutrition also occurs in healthcare settings, with some patients arriving at hospitals already malnourished, while others become nutritionally depleted during illness.

She noted that patients may also have increased nutritional requirements because of surgery, infection, cancer, trauma or critical illness.

“Yet, nutrition can sometimes remain secondary to the condition that brought the patient to the hospital. We believe it should not. If we are serious about improving health outcomes, nutrition must be recognised as part of patient care,” Pounds said.

She said nutrition screening, assessment, intervention and monitoring should be considered alongside other essential components of clinical management.

Pounds explained that nutrition care is a multidisciplinary responsibility involving physicians, nurses, dietitians and nutritionists, pharmacists, laboratory professionals, community health workers and other members of the healthcare team.

“Teamwork does not mean that everyone performs the same function, it means that each professional brings their expertise to the same patient, with the same goal: better outcomes and better quality of care,” she said.

She urged stakeholders to move away from viewing nutrition as the responsibility of one professional group, stressing that the patient should remain at the centre of care.

The WASPEN President also called for routine identification of patients at nutritional risk and stronger multidisciplinary nutrition care structures within health facilities.

She listed stronger nutrition competencies among healthcare professionals, appropriate systems and resources for patients requiring enteral or parenteral nutrition, and measurement of nutrition care and outcomes as part of the quality of healthcare provided as other priorities.

“These are not responsibilities for government alone, they require collaboration between government, healthcare institutions, professional organisations, academia, development partners and the communities we serve,” Pounds said.

She acknowledged the progress in Nigeria’s national nutrition agenda, citing initiatives such as the Nutrition 774 Initiative, development of the National Policy on Food and Nutrition 2026–2035, increased attention to sustainable nutrition financing, and renewed focus on micronutrient deficiencies and the critical first 1,000 days of life.

She commended the Federal Government, the National Council on Nutrition, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and other stakeholders contributing to the efforts.

She said the growing recognition that nutrition is not only a health issue but also one that affects human capital, development and the future of the country provides an important foundation.

The WASPEN’s activities during this year’s Malnutrition Awareness Week would bring together professionals and stakeholders from different parts of the nutrition and healthcare system.

The first webinar, titled “Nutrition Care is a Team Effort: Defining Roles, Building Partnerships, Improving Outcomes,” will focus on collaboration, professional roles, partnerships and the policy environment needed to strengthen nutrition care.

The second webinar, “From Screening to Recovery: The Multidisciplinary Nutrition Care Pathway in Practice,” will examine how nutrition care can move from screening and identification through assessment, intervention, monitoring and recovery.

Pounds urged continued government leadership in making nutrition a sustained national priority and called for the national nutrition agenda to embrace the full continuum of nutrition care.

She said stakeholders should continue strengthening nutrition in communities, protecting mothers and children during the first 1,000 days, and addressing food and micronutrient insecurity, while also paying attention to patients in hospitals.

“Malnutrition is too complex for one profession to solve, it is too important for one sector to own and it is too serious for us to address only when it becomes severe.

“Nutrition is a team effort, it is a community responsibility, it is a healthcare responsibility. And ultimately, it is a national responsibility,” she stated.