This paper addressed the roles of health education in the control of childhood undernutrition in a period of severe national food insecurity. It also discusses the educational support for mothers to not only ensure the availability of food on every table but the intake of adequately nutritious food. The challenges of poverty and illiteracy are like inseparable Siamese twins, often creating a vicious circle. Unfortunately, these two problems are still enormously common in Nigeria   where millions of people struggling to access food on daily basis. Food insecurity in Nigeria is caused by many reasons such as the Boko Haram problem, insurgency, kidnapping of farmers and frequent conflicts in the major food-producing regions. The recent removal of fuel subsidies ang global rise in food prices further escalate the problem. Undernutrition among children stands as a primary contributor to illness and death globally with Nigeria having one of the worst global undernutrition indexes. The problem of undernutrition in Nigeria may not be only due to non-availability of foods but poor knowledge on the selection of nutritious foods may also be a contributor. Health education can play a vital role in addressing proper food selection, preparation, and consumption to curb the menace of undernutrition as much as possible in children. The index paper recommends that more attention and finances should be devoted to health education for mothers and for all Nigerians. Also, Nigeria’s food policy should be formulated and more attention and funds should be devoted to agriculture.

Keywords: Undernutrition, food insecurity, health education, food selection,

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