In addition to the availability and affordability of food, we cannot end malnutrition without addressing sensitisation around behavioural changes, social norms, and misinformation related to food, health, and childcare. That’s where communication comes in, not as an afterthought, but as a strategic tool. Effective nutrition communication educates caregivers on what to feed their children and why. It helps communities understand the dangers of exclusive pap diets, promotes early initiation of breastfeeding, and combats cultural taboos that limit dietary diversity. Yet, many communities remain in the dark either due to language barriers, limited access to media, or messages that lack cultural sensitivity.

Public breastfeeding is becoming more invisible, as in Tanzania, a troubling shift is emerging: increasing numbers of women feel afraid or ashamed to breastfeed in public. This emerging stigma threatens the hard-won progress in promoting optimal breastfeeding practices across Africa and, if unaddressed, could significantly undermine efforts to improve maternal and child health outcomes across the continent.

A 2025 study by Koray et al. examined exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) practices across 25 Sub‑Saharan African countries, identifying a complex interplay of individual and community-level factors influencing breastfeeding behaviours. The highest EBF prevalence was recorded in Burundi (83%) and Rwanda (79%), while the lowest was observed in Gabon (19%) and Guinea (25%).

The study highlights how early antenatal care (ANC) registration, media exposure, and community support play a vital role in encouraging EBF. It recommended targeted interventions such as integrating counselling into child health services, addressing socioeconomic disparities, and strengthening community engagement approaches, all rooted in effective, culturally sensitive health communication. Given the wide disparities in EBF prevalence across the region, the findings affirm that breastfeeding promotion must be tailored to local realities. These strategies should go beyond service delivery to strategically deploy media, education, and interpersonal communication to feed the mind first, creating informed, supportive environments where mothers are empowered to nourish their children confidently and consistently.

In many parts of Nigeria, some mothers still discard colostrum the first breast milk, due to outdated beliefs or conflicting advice, sometimes even from poorly informed health workers. A practice that occurs nationwide and often stems from gaps in communication and culturally sensitive health education. When caregivers receive mixed or incorrect information about infant feeding, it undermines decades of progress in nutrition advocacy. This is why communication grounded in evidence, trust, and local context is important for lasting change. Others rely on unsafe feeding practices simply because no one has explained the alternatives in relatable ways. These myths persist because our communication efforts are not reaching where they matter most.

A striking example outside nutrition comes from Mozambique’s 2019 Cyclone Idai humanitarian response. At the time, an estimated 1.5 million people were affected across Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. With over 40 languages spoken in Mozambique alone, only half the population could speak Portuguese, the official language. Portuguese comprehension rates were particularly low in rural areas and among women. Other languages spoken in the most affected areas include Sena, Lomwe, Xitshwa, and Ndau.

People in the affected districts of Malawi mainly speak Chewa and Lomwe, and Yao in the northern part of the affected area. So many residents were unaware of where and when to access relief, leading to chaos, distrust, and uneven distribution. With information primarily used in Portuguese, neglecting local languages, this bypassed community radio or trusted local leaders, and aid information failed to reach the most vulnerable. A powerful reminder that without tailored communication strategies, even well-intentioned projects falter.

So, what does effective communication look like? It means planning communication as a core part of any project, not an afterthought. It means working within the broader strategy and ensuring adequate resources are dedicated to communication efforts. It means speaking in the audience’s language, using trusted local channels like community radio or influencers, and addressing cultural beliefs sensitively.

As Colle advises, every project must examine communication needs during planning, integrate them fully within the strategy, and allocate resources accordingly. This approach ensures messages reach the right people, in the right way, at the right time. When policymakers set the overarching vision, the strategy and execution should flow from it. And while demand for services may have been confronted by limited resources, communicators also need to adapt, more so for malnutrition, in addressing the peculiarities of the community where it is prevalent. Those are the dynamics that can go further in enlightening and achieving the overall objective of the project.

Strategic communication connects policies to people and translates nutrition science into action at the household level. As communicators, we must design with empathy, speak the language of the audience, and build consistent, evidence-based messages. As a country, we must fund and prioritise communication in every nutrition strategy, not as a luxury, but as a necessity. If we want to change Nigeria’s alarming nutrition statistics, we must first change the conversation.

Over 500 languages are spoken in Nigeria, so this risk is also there. There are 526 live languages spoken in Nigeria, with 520 of them being indigenous languages (Lewis et al., 2015). After Indonesia (with 707) and Papua New Guinea (with 839), Nigeria is the third most multilingual nation in the world. Despite the cultural benefits, national campaigns might be hampered by language plurality if it is not addressed.

An English or Hausa nutrition message, for instance, might not reach its target audience or even be understood in regions where the Tiv, Efik, Gwari, or Ijaw languages are more widely spoken. Even with enough money, efforts to bridge understanding gaps will be ineffective. Hence, a serious communication gap.

So, what does effective communication planning look like? It should entail integrating communication into nutritional policies from the beginning, involving:

Many experts have recommended many things, but this largely depends on what is available on the ground. For some, it is allocating at least 10–15% of any nutrition program budget to communication. However, currently, many programs invest less than 3%, treating messaging as a last-mile add-on. This is a false economy. Without strong communication, behaviour change won’t happen, even with the best interventions in place.

Using Indonesia as an example, the Indonesian government recognised the importance of nutrition communication and allocated significant resources to support it, both directly and indirectly through broader nutrition initiatives. The Indonesian communication strategy was based on a National Nutrition Communication Campaign (NNCC), providing a compelling model. It targeted stunting by pairing mass media with interpersonal communication (IPC), grounded in the By addressing attitudes, norms, and perceived control, the campaign increased caregivers’ intentions and abilities to practice recommended feeding behaviours. This dual-pronged strategy, national media for reach, and localised IPC for depth, Nigeria can adopt.

Stunting, defined as height-for-age two standard deviations below WHO standards, not only delays physical growth but also impairs cognitive development, reduces school performance, and increases long-term health risks (WHO). With 40% of children under five in Nigeria stunted (UNICEF, 2024), there is a need for urgent, behaviour-centred interventions. The first 1,000 days of a child’s life are a critical window for brain development, and feeding the mind begins with feeding the body.

Does Nigeria require interagency coordination?

Absolutely. Communication should be coordinated by a multi-sectoral task force involving:

Such coordination ensures consistent messaging, efficient use of channels, and inclusive language strategies tailored to rural, urban, literate, and low-literacy audiences.

Why language matters more than we admit

Language is not just a medium; it’s a gatekeeper. It determines who understands and who doesn’t. In a linguistically diverse country like Nigeria, failing to communicate in people’s first languages creates exclusion, misinterpretation, and ultimately, policy failure.

To tackle this, nutrition programs must:

Strategic communication connects policies to people. It translates nutrition science into household action. It is time we treated communication as a public good and a core intervention, not a soft add-on. If we want to change Nigeria’s alarming nutrition statistics, we must first change how we speak, who we speak to, and in what language.

And don’t get me wrong, the cost of food isn’t friendly either, but even within our means, informed choices can help us eat better. So, how about we feed the minds first, then the stomachs will follow?

Milliscent Nnwoka is an accomplished development journalist, communication strategist, and founder of Bright Byte Media Learning (BBML), a digital learning platform advancing media literacy, storytelling, and strategic communication for social impact across Africa.

Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of TheCable.