By Jutha Gupah Maiduguri
The Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast has caused Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) among a million children, as insecurity scared farmers from food production and distribution. Distribution of ready use therapeutic food (RUTF) by UNICEF to 2.6 million children may also not save the lives of children trapped with the nine-year malnutrition in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. This was disclosed by Dr. Bamidele Omotola at the weekend, while presenting a paper on: “Child Malnutrition and the Emergency in Northeast Nigeria,” at a UNICEF workshop in Yola, Adamawa state. He said that severe acute malnutrition has wasted over 25 million children under the age of five in the country. According to him, out of the wasted children caused by malnutrition, 10 million have already developed stunted growth. “With the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast that prevented and scared many farmers from food and livestock production; it creates an enormous challenge to feed the displaced persons in the region. “This has clustered child malnutrition in the insurgency hit states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe,” warning that children with SAM have nine fold risks of death, compared to well-nourished ones in the country. He described SAM, as when a child is too thin with low weight compared to his or her height. “When a child undergoes chronic malnutrition or stunting, his/her height is, however short compared to age,” said Dr. Omotola. According to him; untreated SAM is similar to sending 25 million children to death sentences. This was why, he said that one SAM case for every six children, are reported in three northeast emergency states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. He noted that the number of children is also not directly linked to the magnitude of malnutrition problem. He maintained that; “One SAM case for every seven children are reported in nine northern none emergency states.” Speaking on SAM national average, he said: “About 50% of children in the 12 Northern states are stunted, while only 20% of children in the rest of the country are stunted.”
