WASPEN 2025 Conference: Creating Awareness on Clinical Nutrition by Teresa Pounds
…..as WASPEN urges federal government involvement in supporting awareness for clinical/community nutrition.
By Naomi Onome
In preparation for June 17th, 2025 Clinical Nutrition conference at the National Hospital Abuja, West African Society of Parenteral and Internal Nutrition (WASPEN) aims at addressing hospital and community malnutrition seen as a silent but devastating condition often referred to as the skeleton in the hospital’s closet. Also to create awareness and collaborations between hospitals, universities and the federal government; to discuss key strategies to bridge existing gaps in hospital and community malnutrition care.
This year’s conference, themed “Bridging the Gap: Integrating Hospital and Community Malnutrition Care in Developing Countries,” is said to be inspired by WASPEN’s successful Malnutrition Awareness Week, held in collaboration with the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN). The conference is not just about discussions; it is about actionable plans and advocacy, with a call to action for key stakeholders.
Clinically Dr Teresa Pounds Founder and President of WASPEN told pressmen at a zoom conference that, the 2025 event represents a significant step forward in a collective effort to address hospital and community malnutrition. The urgency in addressing malnutrition, she says, remains a major yet overlooked challenge in both acute hospital settings and community healthcare.
Teresa stated that many patients, particularly those with chronic illnesses, surgical conditions, and critical care needs, suffer from inadequate nutritional support, leading to longer hospital stays, increased complications, and higher mortality rates. Says as a professional society, WASPEN is committed to ensuring that specialized clinical nutrition interventions are not only recognized but also implemented as a fundamental part of healthcare practice in Nigeria and across West Africa.
WASPEN’s vision, she says, aims at creating ‘Centers of Excellence’ through conferences, now held in tertiary institutions, to raise awareness and foster strong collaborations between hospitals, universities, and policymakers. One of the key objectives of WASPEN is to establish interdisciplinary steering committees in major institutions, tasked with advancing clinical nutrition advocacy and intervention.
Teresa noted that,
WASPEN has commenced the groundwork for the ‘Clinical Nutrition’ initiative at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), and now Abuja, also planning to kick off an immediate multi-centered study on the prevalence and intervention of malnutrition in tertiary institutions. This, she says, will provide critical data to support national policies and drive sustainable change.
However, WASPEN is privileged to have an outstanding lineup of speakers and panelists, which includes:
Special Guest of Honor: Professor Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health
Professor Muhammad Raji Mahmud, Chief Medical Director, National Hospital Abuja (Host) Professor Audu Bala, President, Nigerian Medical Association (Keynote Address) Professor Cyril Usifoh, Former President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (Chairman) Prof. Chinedum Babalola, Former VC, Chrisland University (Special Guest Speaker) Tajudeen Olutope Ahmed, National President, Institute of Dietetics in Nigeria (keynote speaker)
Pharm Ibrahim Tanko Ayuba, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (Guest of Honour) Prof. Salisu Maiwada Abubaka, President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria (Guest of Honour) Comrade Haruna Mamman, President, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (Guest of Honour)
More also, for the first time in WASPEN’s five years in existence, it is introducing the “WASPEN Pre-Conference Workshop” in collaboration with Nutro Industrial Brazil. This session is created to provide a unique opportunity for healthcare professionals to develop their expertise in enteral nutrition and will be led by Professor Paulo Vasconcelos (Brazil) and Dr. Akhigbe Evelyn. The workshop will focus on
Indications, contraindications, and complications of enteral nutrition;The role of different disciplines in nutrition support;
Managing common adverse effects;
Developing plans for transitioning patients to home enteral nutrition; safe and effective feeding tube placement and management.
WASPEN is leading a call to action by involving stakeholders to actively engage and address the nonchalance of health practitioners to clinical nutrition and calls on His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. – To prioritize hospital malnutrition as a critical healthcare issue and drive national policies supporting specialized clinical nutrition interventions; the Federal Ministry of Health & State Ministries of Health; Hospitals and Healthcare Institutions; the Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD); Pharmaceutical and Nutrition Companies; and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to expand nutritional programs at the community level; Non-Governmental Organizations and Public-Private Partnerships to collaborate on funding, advocacy, and ensuring sustainability of clinical nutrition programs.
FPCPharm
The LOC Chairperson, Pharm Clara Adesola
FPCPharm expressed delight over National Hospital’s partnership with WASPEN to make health institutions aware of the importance of nutritional inclusion when attending to patients with diverse ailments. She said the 2025 conference with the theme Bridging the Gap: Integrating Hospital and Community Malnutrition Care, is indeed timely to address the nutritional needs of patients across the country.
Adesola emphasized that it is paramount that the world, particularly Nigerians, understand how important nutrition should be valued. Malnutrition, she said, has affected a large number of patients regardless of their status. Once a patient (of any ailment) is admitted and diagnosed to have this condition (malnutrition), then there is a need for immediate treatment.
Adesola further stated that,
In Nigeria, there are no stated statistics of patients suffering from malnutrition. Although all over the world, it is noted that about 20 to 50% of our patients in the hospital are diagnosed with this condition mildly, including children.UNICEF at random says 2 million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition, and only 2 out of 10 children suffering from malnutrition get accurate treatment.
Meanwhile, the risk associated with malnutrition includes increased infection, healthcare costs, and slow economic growth, which transcends to poverty. The need to take nutrition seriously in the clinic and the community is the reason the 2025 Clinical Nutrition conference will be done at the hospital.
Teresa, in conclusion, added that in time to come, WASPEN will hold conferences more than once yearly and might soon extend awareness to other West African countries.
