Hauwa Ali Zarma*, Sa’eedu Auwal Magaji, Bawagana Kyari, Ahmed Tijjani Zubairu, Abdulrahman Yerima
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Maiduguri, P.M.B 1069, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria
*Corresponding author’s Email: zarmahawwa@gmail.com, doi.org/10.55639/607.020100156
ABSTRACT
Micronutrient deficiency, often described as hidden hunger, is a substantial public health problem among women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries, yet nutrition programming in Nigeria has concentrated largely on pregnancy and the first 1,000 days. This critical narrative review examines evidence on micronutrient status before pregnancy among women and adolescent girls in Northern Nigeria, the life-course and structural pathways through which vulnerability accumulates, and the intervention options available. Literature published from 2013 onwards, with selected earlier landmark studies, was identified from PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library and from international agency and Nigerian government sources. No formal risk-of-bias assessment or meta-analysis was conducted, and the original search strings and dates were not archived. National anaemia estimates depend on measurement method: the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey reported 57.8% using capillary blood, and the 2021 National Food Consumption and Micronutrient Survey (NFCMS) reported 23.0% using venous blood; these are not a time trend. The NFCMS also reported folate deficiency, based on red blood cell folate, in more than nine in ten non-pregnant women and adolescent girls aged 10–14 years, and higher thinness in women and stunting in children in the North West and North East than nationally. Zonal micronutrient biomarker data for women are not consistently available, so conclusions specific to Northern Nigeria rest largely on national biomarker data and zonal anthropometric indicators. The rationale for acting before conception rests mainly on mechanistic and observational evidence; a preconception supplementation trial has been reported from other countries, and none from Nigeria was identified. A five-pillar framework is proposed as an author-derived conceptual model, not empirically tested, to support stakeholder consultation and implementation research.
KEYWORDS
Micronutrient
deficiency,
Anaemia,
Folate status,
Maternal
nutrition,
Food system.