By Barth Ikiebe

A Non Governmental Organisation, Catholic Relief Services, CRS, says Nigeria has the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 40% (NDHS, 2024) among children under five.

The Country Representative of the Catholic Relief Services, Akim Kikonda, announced this at a meeting with the Director and Head of the Nutrition Department of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Mrs. Ladidi K. Bako-Aiyegbusi mni , in in Abuja.

The strategic meeting was to officially hand over the CRS Tom Brown Implementation Guide as a reference material for scaling up the Tom Brown approach in the country which Kikonda described as a critical step towards decreasing the number of Nigerian Children suffering Severe Acute Malnutrition.

“As part of its commitments to manage this scourge of malnutrition, CRS adopted the Tom Brown approach, a multi-sectoral community-based approach implemented with integration of WASH protocols.

“Tom Brown is a supplementary food powder made from roasted ingredients such as Cereals, Soya beans and groundnuts. It is believed that the origin of the name is the instruction during preparation to “turn brown”.

The Tom Brown approach, implemented in Northern Nigeria under humanitarian conditions, supports the women using a market-based approach where mothers are given vouchers to acquire raw food materials, and jointly produce the feed within the community. It is viewed as a sustainable strategy that encourages the use of locally available food materials.

“CRS further developed a Tom Brown implementation guide which contains the step-by-step recipe for preparation of Tom Brown and its implementation”.

The CRS Country Representative, highlighted the success of this approach in CRS-supported communities, noting its acceptance and the ease of processing using locally available ingredients.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Health to scale up the Tom Brown approach. And are ready to support with trainers. This initiative is a testament to our shared commitment to improving nutrition and reducing malnutrition in Nigeria. Together, we can make a lasting impact on the health and well-being of communities across the country,” Akim Kikonda assured said.

CRS Head of Programming, Dane Fredenburg, explained that Tom Brown approach is a market-based approach where mothers are given a voucher by CRS to procure the ingredients.

In her remarks, Mrs. Bako – Aiyegbusi mni, outlined the importance of the collaboration, sharing insights from a recent stakeholders’ meeting. She noted that various State governments wre already considering scalin the use of Tom Brown to address the rising number of malnutrition cases in regions where it is not commonly used.

“I appreciate the work CRS has done and their willingness to share the manuals with us. This meeting is very timely and will support our plans to achieve zero malnutrition cases in the long run.”

She also mentioned that the ministry is strategically positioned to coordinate and sustain the ongoing partners’ efforts.

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