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Executive Director of Borno State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (BOPHDA), Dr. Sule Meleh, has attributed diabetes, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS to poor nutrition, which lacks capacity to boost immune system.
He argued that availability and sustenance of vitamins and minerals the body requires in food constitutes a balanced diet.
Meleh disclosed this on the sidelines of World Food Day (WFD) in Maiduguri, saying this year’s WFD with the theme: “Healthy Diets for a Zero Hunger World,” was apt and timely to overcome challenges of malnutrition, especially in Northern Nigeria.
“The decade long Boko Haram insurgency in the North East has had a devastating effect on food security, as its quantity, quality and availability continue to decline,” he said, adding that this has a devastating effect on the health of the population.
Meleh, who lamented that getting a healthy and nutritious diet has become a huge challenge, described a healthy diet as the presence of balanced nutrients in food consumed.
“It maintains our well-being and protects us from various diseases, like diabetes, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Communicable diseases get hold when there is inadequate nutrition to boost people’s immune system.
“Good nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life; taken during conception to the first years of life, is most vital for physical, mental development and well-being of individuals. This is the period of active brain development,” he said, adding that it requires appropriate nutrition to develop fully for the brain’s cognitive functions.
