Bill Gates: Nigeria to receive 3m bottles of multiple micronutrient supplements

Bill Gates, the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), says Nigeria will soon receive three million bottles of multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS) for pregnant women.

Multiple micronutrient supplements are designed to provide several vitamins and minerals needed by pregnant women for the development of their fetus and other metabolic functions.

Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the 2024 NutriVision, a pan-African dialogue, Gates said BMGF’s work in developing countries like Nigeria has resulted in many positive strides, including the reduction of infant deaths.

The dialogue was organised to discuss innovative solutions to combating malnutrition in Africa.

“Particularly getting vaccines to more children and adding new vaccines. Together with a group, we helped create the Global Alliance for Vaccines,” he said.

“New vaccines for diarrhea and pneumonia were added and got out to the majority of children. That has literally saved millions of lives and improved the health of those children.”

He noted that malnutrition has been a challenge despite numerous efforts.

Gates said the foundation is focused on getting to women during pregnancy, to ensure they get the required nutrients before the baby is born.

“The vitamins that you get during pregnancy as you do those prenatal visits, we’ve added new vitamins. We have a thing called the multiple micronutrient supplement (MMS),” he said.

“I just heard that there are three million bottles of this, what we call MMS, coming into the country, and so pretty soon mothers will get these additional vitamins.

“We’ve shown that MMS could reduce two million cases of maternal anaemia and save the lives of 70,000 babies. We’re bringing the cost of that down. We’re making sure mothers are hearing about it.

“Malnutrition, of course, affects the most rural and low-income communities, so we have to make sure that we’re getting outreach there, making sure that those messages are coming through to women, making sure that the primary health care is helping out with that.”

The Gates Foundation will facilitate the delivery of the MMS through the Kirk Spencer Foundation.