Save the Slum Initiative (STSI) implements life-saving, community-centered nutrition interventions designed to prevent malnutrition, restore health, and build long-term resilience among Nigeria’s most vulnerable populations. The organization focuses on women, infants, young children, and displaced households living in urban slums, hard-to-reach rural areas, and conflict-affected communities where food insecurity, poor feeding practices, and fragile health systems threaten survival and development. Guided by national nutrition policies, WHO and UNICEF standards, and humanitarian best practices, STSI delivers integrated, people-first nutrition services that address both the immediate causes and the underlying drivers of malnutrition with dignity and urgency.

Nigeria continues to face a severe nutrition crisis fueled by poverty, conflict, climate shocks, limited access to quality health services, and sub-optimal infant and young child feeding practices. Children under five, pregnant and lactating women, and internally displaced persons are disproportionately affected by acute malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and food insecurity. In the slum settlements and underserved communities where STSI operates, families often struggle to access nutritious and diverse foods, lack practical knowledge of optimal feeding and care practices, live in environments with poor water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions, and face recurrent disease outbreaks that further undermine nutritional status. STSI’s nutrition programming is designed to respond to these realities in ways that are sustainable, culturally appropriate, and community-owned.

The organization’s work is centered on reducing malnutrition-related illness and death while improving nutritional status, survival, and healthy development among vulnerable populations. STSI prioritizes the prevention of both acute and chronic malnutrition in children under five, the improvement of maternal nutrition and infant feeding practices, and the early detection and management of malnutrition through community-based approaches. Strengthening local capacity and integrating nutrition with health, WASH, and food security interventions are central to ensuring lasting impact.

Through community-based management of acute malnutrition, STSI supports early identification, referral, and follow-up of malnourished children using proven community screening methods. Caregivers are supported with practical guidance on home-based care and feeding during recovery, while defaulter tracing helps ensure that children complete treatment. This approach emphasizes early action and strong community ownership to reduce preventable child deaths. Complementing this, STSI promotes optimal infant and young child feeding during the first 1,000 days of life through individual and group counseling on exclusive breastfeeding, appropriate complementary feeding, and the establishment of mother-to-mother support groups. Fathers and other caregivers are actively engaged to strengthen household support for child nutrition.

Recognizing the vital link between maternal health and child outcomes, STSI implements targeted maternal nutrition interventions that promote diversified diets using locally available foods, provide nutrition education for pregnant and lactating women, and strengthen linkages to antenatal and postnatal care services. Community awareness efforts emphasize the importance of maternal nutrition before, during, and after pregnancy to support healthier pregnancies and improved birth outcomes. The organization also addresses hidden hunger by promoting micronutrient-rich foods, supporting vitamin A supplementation and deworming campaigns in collaboration with health authorities, and encouraging the use of fortified foods where available to strengthen immunity and reduce preventable illness.

Nutrition education and behavior change communication are at the heart of STSI’s approach, ensuring that knowledge leads to sustained action at household level. Through community dialogues, cooking demonstrations, and culturally sensitive messaging, families are supported to adopt practical, affordable nutrition practices using locally available foods. To address the root causes of malnutrition more effectively, STSI integrates nutrition programming with primary health care services, promotes hygiene practices that reduce disease burden, and supports food security and livelihood initiatives where feasible.

Children under five, pregnant and lactating women, internally displaced persons, and families living in slums and hard-to-reach communities are the primary focus of STSI’s nutrition interventions. Community leadership and participation are central to implementation, with strong collaboration involving traditional leaders, community health volunteers, women’s groups, and youth networks. This participatory approach builds trust, improves service uptake, and fosters long-term ownership. Across all activities, STSI prioritizes gender and social inclusion, child protection and safeguarding, accountability to affected populations, and data-driven learning.

Through these efforts, STSI contributes to reduced levels of acute malnutrition, improved breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices, increased caregiver knowledge, and stronger community systems for early detection and prevention of malnutrition. Save the Slum Initiative remains committed to ensuring that no child’s future is defined by hunger or malnutrition, continuing to nourish lives, protect dignity, and build healthier, more resilient communities across Nigeria through compassionate, evidence-based action.