Nigeria is making significant progress in strengthening its nutrition information and logistics systems as part of efforts to improve evidence-based planning, coordination and accountability in the nutrition sector, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has said.
The ministry, through its Nutrition Department, made the disclosure during the 2nd Quarter 2026 Meeting of the National Nutrition Technical Working Group (NNTWG) held in Abuja from June 24 to 25, while stressing that despite notable achievements, much more remains to be done.
The meeting, themed “Strengthening Nutrition Routine Information System,” attracted over 140 participants both physically and virtually, including representatives of Federal and State Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Office of the Vice President, development partners, implementing partners, civil society organisations, academia, regulatory bodies and State Nutrition Officers from the six geopolitical zones.
Participants unanimously affirmed that an effective nutrition response depends on a functional, standardised and reliable information system.
The ministry, however, painted a sobering picture of the country’s nutrition challenges, citing findings from the 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS).
According to the ministry, 40 per cent of children aged between six and 59 months are stunted, eight per cent are wasted, while 27 per cent are underweight. It also noted that exclusive breastfeeding remains low at 29 per cent, while micronutrient deficiencies persist, with 30 per cent of children deficient in Vitamin A and 31 per cent suffering from anaemia.
“These figures remind us that, despite the progress made, much work remains to be done, as data quality is directly linked to the systems and processes that generates it,” the ministry stated.
Deliberations at the meeting focused on strengthening the National Health Management Information System (NHMIS), with participants observing that poor standardisation and limited digitisation continue to result in fragmented reporting, delayed decision-making and inefficiencies in service delivery.
The ministry disclosed that the NHMIS was reviewed and validated in 2024 and 2025 to incorporate updated nutrition indicators and improve monitoring and decision-making nationwide.
“The revised tools now include key nutrition data elements such as Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS), Small Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (SQ-LNS), Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food (RUSF), birth weight, and early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
“These tools were pilot-tested in six states; Benue, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ogun, Cross River, and Ebonyi, followed by national validation of Primary Health Care (PHC) tools in May 2026.”
Despite these milestones, participants expressed concern over delays in the nationwide rollout of the revised NHMIS tools, warning that the continued use of parallel data collection systems by development partners undermines efforts to achieve harmonised reporting.
The meeting also reviewed progress made on the Nigeria Health Logistics Management Information System (NHLMIS), described as the country’s first integrated health logistics platform providing end-to-end visibility of commodity availability across the health system.
Participants noted that nutrition commodities on the platform have increased from five to 23, covering essential products including Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), F-75, F-100, RUSF, Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS), SQ-LNS, Micronutrient Powder (MNP), Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS), zinc sulphate, albendazole, iron-folic acid and Vitamin A.
“Significant progress was reported, including the onboarding of nutrition commodities from five commodities to 23 commodities on the platform. These include RUTF, F-75, F-100, RUSF, MMS (all variants), SQ-LNS, MNP, ORS, zinc sulphate, albendazole, iron-folic acid, vitamin A, and other essential nutrition commodities.
“Twenty-three states have been trained and are actively reporting live nutrition commodity data on the NHLMIS which kicked off on 1st October 2025 with 185 health facilities reporting for the first time, thus providing visibility down to the health facility level.
“These achievements are significant, but they must be consolidated and scaled nationwide. The system also integrates State Nutrition Officers and Local Government Area Nutrition Focal Persons into the logistics reporting structure.”
The meeting further highlighted that over 1,774 government personnel across 23 states have been trained following the review and validation of NHMIS tools conducted on May 13–14, 2026. The exercise established nutrition data elements within Antenatal Care (ANC) Registers, Labour and Delivery Registers, Growth Monitoring Registers and corresponding summary forms.
However, participants raised concerns over persistent bottlenecks, including parallel procurement and distribution systems, risks of commodity diversion and expiry, as well as weak integration of logistics data into planning and decision-making.
They called for sustained collaboration among government institutions, development partners, civil society organisations and academia to accelerate progress towards Nigeria’s national nutrition goals.
Participants concluded by reaffirming the strategic importance of the National Nutrition Technical Working Group.
“The National Nutrition Technical Working Group continues to serve as Nigeria’s central platform for technical coordination, evidence generation, and alignment of nutrition interventions across all levels of government.”
