NASME worries as poor nutrition affects women

Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (NASME) has raised concern over recent data showing that 100 million Nigerians are faced with food insecurity, with a significant gap in nutrition affecting 7.3 million women.
  
They expressed their worries as stakeholders gathered, yesterday, in Abuja at the 2024 Enterprise Support Organisation (ESOs) for Nutrition.   They also expressed fear over its ripple effects on mothers and their babies.
  
Speaking as one of the panelists on the issue, the Chairman of the Plateau State chapter of NASME, Olu Awolowo, said the bigger challenge was the ripple effect from the crisis that included over 24,000 daily births being threatened due to undernourished mothers, 46 million women of childbearing age at risk and 262,000 yearly deaths of babies as well as 50,000 annual deaths of women.
  
He said: “This crisis demands immediate attention and action to address the nutritional needs of vulnerable populations, particularly women and children,” he said.
  
He said the objective was to empower ESOs to effectively integrate nutrition-focused strategies into their support for SMEs, thereby increasing the availability, affordability, and desirability of safe and nutritious foods in underserved markets.