When 28-year-old Hauwa'u Aminu Sarki attended a literacy club session at the Bunkure PHC, her perception of nutrition changed. "I used to think I couldn't afford a balanced meal," she shared. "Now I know I can prepare nutritious food using beans, grains, and vegetables I already have at home."
For many women in Bunkure, Kano State, eating well during pregnancy feels out of reach. But at the Bunkure Primary Health Care (PHC) Centre, a simple literacy session on affordable nutrition revealed that healthy meals do not always require expensive ingredients, only the right knowledge.
Poor maternal nutrition remains a major contributor to pregnancy-related complications in rural communities across Kano State. Many expectant mothers believe balanced diets depend on costly protein sources such as meat and fish, making adequate nutrition difficult amid rising food prices. These misconceptions often lead to poor dietary practices, increasing risks of anaemia, low birth weight, and other preventable conditions. Addressing nutrition knowledge gaps is therefore critical to improving maternal and child health outcomes.
Another participant, Zaynab Dayyabu, expressed her excitement about sharing the knowledge beyond the clinic. "At weddings and naming ceremonies, women always talk about food. Now I will teach them what I learnt so more families can benefit," she said.
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According to Hassan Sambo of Akin Savy Awareness, the literacy club was designed for sustainability. "Each woman selected represents a ward, so the information spreads beyond the session," he explained. "We emphasised low-cost, locally available foods to ensure these lessons can be practised daily."
Health experts affirm that proper nutrition during pregnancy supports foetal growth, reduces complications such as preeclampsia, and strengthens maternal immunity.
The session reached 20 women aged 18 to 35 from different wards in Bunkure LGA. Beyond nutrition, discussions on environmental sanitation, such as safe refuse disposal and food handling, helped address common diseases like malaria, typhoid, and cholera. However, limited reach and resource constraints mean many women still lack access to such lifesaving information.
Strengthening community-based nutrition health education remains essential to improving maternal and child health outcomes, and it aligns with the second pillar of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NHSRII), which seeks to improve the population health outcomes of Nigerians, specifically to drive health promotion in a multisectoral way, especially in adequate nutrition for healthy living.
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To sustain and scale impact, stakeholders must move beyond isolated interventions by
- Expanding community health literacy clubs across rural and underserved communities.
- Invest in maternal nutrition education as a core component of PHC service delivery. and
- Strengthen PHCs with resources and partnerships to reach more women with practical health information.
"When women understand that good health starts with simple choices," Sambo noted, "they gain the power to protect both their lives and their children's future."
In communities like Bunkure, that power begins with knowledge and with systems that ensure such knowledge reaches every woman who needs it.
