- One in every six children at risk of death
- UNICEF solicits support from stakeholders
As many privileged individuals and organisations make preparations for Christmas and donate to orphanage homes, the need to extend such gestures to children in North Eastern Nigeria, whose lives have been terribly damaged by insurgency, should not be over-emphasised.
Reports show that unless some urgent interventions were made by stakeholders to rescue children in three states most affected by insurgency – Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, more than 50 percent of children will not escape death from the Severe Acute Malnutrition already ravaging the children population there.
Of a fact, no parent will be happy to see his/her four year old daughter traumatised day and night by hunger, yet unable to attend to the need of that child because his/her means of livelihood has been destroyed by insurgency.
That is the current situation in the north east region of Nigeria with Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States worst hit as many of the children there die needlessly from both acute and chronic malnutrition.
Before the insurgency, child malnutrition was already a problem in the north, but with increased insecurity in the region, the state of malnutrition assumed a frightening dimension. More worrisome is that, at some point in the history of this nation, the North eastern states were producing food for the whole nation.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Boko Haram insurgency has worsened malnutrition situation in the region as one in seven children suffer from severe acute malnutrition.
In Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States , the case is said to be one in every six children, which experts described as worrisome as it portends a bleak future for the children who may by narrow escape survive it.
Malnutrition is a condition that occurs when people consistently do not consume or absorb the right amount and types of food and essential nutrients. Globally, it contributes to nearly half of all child deaths — that is more than three million children each year.
Findings by UNICEF show that insurgency remains the main driver of malnutrition in the northeast, thereby resulting in high food insecurity, sub-optimal infant and young child feeding practices, increased spread of diseases, limited dietary diversity, loss of livelihood, population displacement, destruction of houses, among others.
Revealing the malnutrition situation in the northeast during a media dialogue in Yola, Adamawa State recently, UNICEF’s Nutrition Consultant, Dr. Davis Omotola, said the Northeast has a large chunk of the 25 million children under age five in Nigeria that are wasted as well as the 10 million children in the country that are stunted.
Omotola explained that severe acute malnutrition also known as wasting–when a child is too thin was similar to death sentence while chronic malnutrition or stunting–when a child is too short compared to age, was similar to life sentence.
“ Nigeria is already in crisis of malnutrition. A child that is stunted is given a life sentence while a child that is wasted is given a death sentence. Malnutrition is clustered in the northern part of the country. Northern part of the country used to be food basket, yet its children are malnourished. If you have a region where half of the children have been sentenced to life imprisonment, what becomes of the future of such children”, he said.
According to him, the prevalence of severe acute malnutrition in the northeast was no longer acceptable, adding that about a million children, between the ages of six and 59 months with severe acute malnutrition in the three states most affected by insurgency, were at risk of death .
He said: ” Going by the World Health Organisation standard regulations , the prevalence of severe acute malnutrition in the northeast has already crossed the line where you now have one in six children severely malnourished. Again, we still have one in every seven children in northern zone emergency states suffering from severe acute malnutrition while only one in every 71 children is reported to have SAM in the rest of the country.”
Omotola further revealed that about 50 per cent of children in the 12 northern states are stunted while only 20 per cent of children in the rest of the country are stunted.
He also noted that pregnant and breastfeeding women were also acutely malnourished in the troubled region.
To prevent the current humanitarian emergency from claiming more lives, the consultant nutritionist urged stakeholders to support UNICEF’s effort in the fight against child malnutrition, stressing that acutely malnourished children in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States should not be allowed to die of neglect.
He assured that UNICEF would continue to work towards the provision of preventive and curative nutrition intervention.
The media dialogue tagged, “Investing in child malnutrition for the future” was organised by UNICEF in collaboration with Child Rights Information Bureau and sponsored by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.
Stressing the need for journalists to scale up report on nutrition , UNICEF communication specialist, Dr. Geoffrey Njoku, pointed out that the objective of the media dialogue was to present fact and figure on the current situation of malnutrition in Nigeria.
He urged all participants to use their various platforms to change the narrative, by taking messages on the malnutrition situation to the policy makers so as to prompt them to come up with policies that would bring about positive change.Earlier in a welcome address, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, represented by the Head of Child Rights Information Bureau of the ministry, Mr. Olumide Osanyinpeju, affirmed that Nigeria must defeat malnutrition to be able to achieve her SDGs.
Speaking on DFID’s support in the fight against child malnutrition in the northeast, the nutrition officer, UNICEF Bauchi, Dr Martin Jackson, said DFID’s contribution procured more than 200,000 cartons of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food enough to cover 240,000 children with severe acute malnutrition.
He reminded policy makers that for every dollar invested in reducing stunting among children in Africa, there is a return of investment of $16.
He appealed for more media support, adding that nutrition is too important to left for government alone.
