Shortages of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) in health facilities are undermining Nigeria’s efforts to prevent anaemia among pregnant women, a new study has revealed.
The study found that while pregnant women showed strong willingness to use MMS, persistent stockouts, inadequate health-worker training and weak counselling support are limiting access and uptake of the intervention.
The findings were presented at the bi-annual press briefing on the anaemia situation in Nigeria, organised by the Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), to draw attention to the country’s continuing burden of anaemia and the need for stronger interventions.
According to the study, only 29.4 per cent of pregnant women reported that MMS was always available at their health facilities, while 80.3 per cent said they had experienced stockouts.
It noted that some health facilities experienced prolonged periods without supplies, making it difficult for pregnant women to consistently access the supplements needed during pregnancy.
The researchers, from the Academic and Research Network, Nigeria, in collaboration with the Civil Society Council for Health, Nigeria, said the findings demonstrated that the challenge was not necessarily lack of demand for MMS, but weaknesses in the system responsible for making the intervention consistently available.
The study found that 62.9 per cent of women received MMS during pregnancy where the supplements were available, while only 23 per cent reported taking them daily.
More significantly, 92.1 per cent of the women surveyed said they would be willing to take MMS if it was made available.
The study was designed to assess community awareness, financing and uptake of MMS as an intervention for anaemia prevention among pregnant women, while identifying systemic and behavioural barriers and generating policy recommendations for improving implementation.
It found that Nigeria already has a strong policy framework for nutrition interventions, but gaps in implementation continue to limit their impact.
The study also exposed gaps in nutrition financing, tracking and accountability.
Only 37.3 per cent of health workers surveyed were aware of nutrition-related activities in their facilities or communities, while just 2.2 per cent reported that financial audit information was available.
According to the researchers, the limited access to financial audit information could weaken transparency and accountability and make it difficult to determine how financing decisions translate into service-delivery outcomes.
The researchers called for stronger implementation of existing nutrition policies, sustained financing, improved supply-chain management, training of frontline health workers, provision of counselling tools and stronger monitoring and accountability mechanisms.
They also described the inclusion of MMS on Nigeria’s Essential Medicines List as a significant step towards improving access, but stressed that policy inclusion must be matched by effective implementation and reliable supplies.
Speaking at the briefing, the Director of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Mrs Adegbite Olufunmilola, said Nigeria was facing a “wide, devastating crisis” of anaemia, with prevalence among pregnant women exceeding 50 per cent.
She described the situation as a preventable tragedy and said interventions must be strengthened to reach every woman.
Adegbite said the Federal Ministry of Health was accelerating the use of MMS alongside iron-folic acid supplementation to prevent anaemia and improve maternal and child health outcomes.
She disclosed that the ministry had reached states with MMS, but only about 10 states had so far commenced its use.
“We are pushing forward to ensure more states key into the use of MMS in Nigeria,” she said, adding that matching funds were also supporting the intervention.
She urged stakeholders to work together to expand MMS coverage and strengthen its delivery as part of efforts to tackle anaemia among pregnant women and children.
Also speaking, the representative of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Mrs Chidiana Yunana, said anaemia remained a major public health challenge with significant implications for health, learning, productivity and socio-economic development.
She said the federal government was implementing the revised National Policy on Food and Nutrition 2026–2035 and working on the National Multisectoral Plan of Action for Nutrition 2026–2030 to strengthen the national response to malnutrition and anaemia.
Yunana said the government was also strengthening nutrition-responsive public financial management systems at federal and state levels to improve planning, resource allocation, auditing and accountability for nutrition investments.
She urged stakeholders to use evidence from studies such as the MMS assessment to strengthen advocacy, coordination, financing, implementation and monitoring of nutrition programmes.
The chairman, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, FCT Chapter, Major Edith Ogheneovo Nwachinaemere, said anaemia should be treated as a national development priority rather than merely a medical condition.
She said anaemia could compromise a child’s development and academic potential, affect adolescents’ health and reproductive outcomes, and place both mother and child at risk when a woman enters pregnancy anaemic.
Nwachinaemere called for stronger coordination, sustainable financing, improved access to quality nutrition services, promotion of diverse diets and targeted interventions for adolescent girls, pregnant women and young children.
She also urged the media to sustain attention on anaemia, noting that journalists have an important role in shaping public understanding, influencing policy discussions and holding stakeholders accountable.
The stakeholders stressed that Nigeria already possesses important policy and institutional frameworks to tackle maternal anaemia, but warned that the benefits would remain limited unless gaps in MMS supply, financing, health-worker capacity and accountability are urgently addressed.
They called for a shift from policy commitments to effective implementation, stressing that ensuring uninterrupted access to MMS could significantly strengthen Nigeria’s efforts to prevent maternal anaemia and improve maternal and child nutrition outcomes.