Gates Foundation honours Nigerians, others as global champions for children’s nutrition

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has celebrated 10 extraordinary leaders championing child health and nutrition during its annual event tagged: “Goalkeepers 2024: Recipe for Progress.”

The Goalkeepers event serves as a platform to reiterate the importance of continued investment in child nutrition, particularly in countries like Nigeria where millions of children are at risk of stunting and wasting.

The event, which took place during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, highlighted ongoing efforts to tackle malnutrition in an increasingly warming world.

Among the 10 Global Champions honoured was Nigeria’s Ladidi Bako-Aiyegbusi, director of Nutrition for the Federal Ministry of Health.

Mr Bako-Aiyegbusi has been spearheading efforts to improve maternal, infant, and childhood nutrition in Nigeria by overseeing the training of over 38,000 frontline health workers.

In a press statement released on Thursday, the Chief Executive Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mark Suzman, said, the Goalkeepers programme is focused on targeted partnerships and health programmes that will be key to ensuring children across the world can reach their full potential.

“Goalkeepers is about bringing together a community of global changemakers who champion the Sustainable Development Goals to energise and inspire each other to continue making progress,” he said.

According to Mr Suzman, the foundation is focused on the more than 400 million children who aren’t getting the nutrients they need to grow and thrive.

“While climate change is making that challenge harder to solve, progress is possible. By scaling up existing tools, investing in promising research, and lifting champions like the ones we’re celebrating today, we can help ensure all children can reach their full potential and build global resilience as the world gets hotter,” he said.

Other honourees

At the event, the foundation presented the 2024 Global Goalkeeper Award to Brazil’s President Luiz Lula da Silva.

According to the statement, “the award recognised a leader who has driven progress on a global scale toward achieving the Global Goals.”

The other global leaders honoured with the Goalkeeper Award include the Executive Director of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh, Tahmeed Ahmed.

Mr Ahmed was honoured for his effort to implement treatments for moderate and severe childhood malnutrition and to analyse barriers to the effective implementation of maternal nutrition programs in Bangladesh.

Also, the foundation honoured Beshah Haile of Ethiopia, the Founder and Executive Director of HOPE Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (HOPE-SBH), for providing more than 3,000 families with information and skills training.

Zahra Hoodbhoy, an assistant professor of research at Aga Khan University’s Department of Pediatrics and Child Health in Pakistan, was honoured for combining public health interventions with AI tools to empower community workers to support mothers before and after delivery.

Others are; Nancy Krebs from the United States, the Chief of Economic Empowerment at UN Women, Jemimah Njuki from Kenya, the Minister of Health in Rwanda, Sabin Nsanzimana, the Brazil National Secretary for Food and Nutrition Security, Lilian dos Santos Rahal, a Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield, Bhavani Shankar (United Kingdom); and the Chairman of Tata Trusts, Ratan Tata.

Malnutrition in Nigeria

Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, was present at the event alongside the CEO of the Gates Foundation, Bill Gates.

As Nigeria grapples with its nutrition challenges, Mr Pate’s presence at the event highlights the nation’s dedication to global health.

An estimated 2 million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition. To reduce malnutrition, the federal government recently announced the distribution of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS), aimed at helping to prevent malnutrition and reduce maternal mortality.

The Nigeria government said it has distributed over 1.3 million bottles of MMS across 12 states, with an additional three million bottles scheduled for delivery by the end of September.