‘Malnutrition worsened by insurgencies’

Can you tell us the interventions by UNICEF during the emergency situations?UNICEF leads in certain sectors for the UN. UNICEF works with the host government in certain areas such as safe water and sanitation, ensuring that the target population have access to water and sanitation services. You can have water but people don’t have access […]

Can you tell us the interventions by UNICEF during the emergency situations?
UNICEF leads in certain sectors for the UN. UNICEF works with the host government in certain areas such as safe water and sanitation, ensuring that the target population have access to water and sanitation services. You can have water but people don’t have access because of certain bureaucracies. So we don’t just talk about having water, we talk about people getting access to water.
Do you sink boreholes or what?
Yes, we do. But we don’t sing our praise. What we are concerned with is what the water and sanitation sector, the health, the nutrition, the protection sectors are doing to improve access to these services. So, what we talk about is what each sector is doing for the women and children in the camps.
On the issue of nutrition, can you tell us what you have done and which agencies are involved?
NEMA is the one on ground to make sure IDPs get food. You also have the Food and Agriculture Organisation, we have UNICEF and other NGOs like Save The Children. All these organisations are working in the camps and communities to ensure that nutritional interventions meet standards.
What kind of food do you provide?
Well, there are some children that take regular food. But there are children who are severely malnourished so they are going to be treated for severe acute malnutrition or mild acute malnutrition. Such children are given therapeutic food in order to recover. This is going on in many camps.
You said that 95% of children in the Sahel belt suffer from malnutrition…
I was quoting the National Health Demographic Survey that there is about 26.5 percent acute malnutrition at the Sahel belt, which stretches up to Chad, Niger and some parts of Mali. This means that before the insurgency there was high level of malnutrition and of course, these are the same people who have been affected by insurgency. If they were malnourished when there was no crisis, you can be sure that it worsened with the insurgency
What advice do you have to prevent future reoccurrence?
Nutrition is very critical in the early development of children. Scientifically, it has been proven that children that suffer malnutrition are less likely to be productive in the long run. So such children at any point in time, need to receive adequate care and support that will make them move from severe, to moderate acute malnutrition to regular feeding. So the agencies of government that are responsible should be responsive, and even mothers and fathers need to take it personal.
Malnutrition isn’t something you can legislate. It is something, you have to take personal. Parents need to know that children need more protein contained in foods like milk, than daddies and mummies. They need to stop harmful practices like the talk that children shouldn’t eat eggs so they don’t steal. Other myths like giving the child the head of the chicken. The push for better nutrition for children goes beyond the areas affected because when you even go into urban slums, you see children that are malnourished, not because they don’t eat, but the problem is the kind of food they eat.
What are the common health challenges in the camp?
Some of the children have missed immunisation due to their moving from one place to the other. We are working with NPHCDA and the state primary healthcare board to get the children immunised. Of course, the main challenge in a country like Nigeria is malaria. A lot of them, due to the conditions they lived in, suffer malaria more frequently. So, we have been distributing treated nets to them. We are seeing whooping cough. We are seeing infections caused by close living, overcrowding and so when one person has a cough, it easily spreads. But once you treat them, people get relief.  
We need to know that preparedness involves us all. We need to be prepared in our homes, offices and schools. Terrorism can only be defeated if the citizenship is better prepared and understand that nobody is immune to attacks
What do you think the FG should do to improve on the fight against insurgency, rescue effort and all?
The “do no harm” principle is something we all have to be conscious of. The journalist can ‘do no harm’ by ensuring that their stories are balanced. That the stories they give the public are well researched. So that at the end of the day the public is not misguided.
Do you see these children being re-integrated back into society?
I am very sure of this. On the long run, it will be the society and not only government who will have to ensure that these children are reintegrated back into society. It is important that NGOs, religious bodies, CSOs get involved and begin to engage with these children now.
Over time, we can say we were involved in the rescue of these ones and they can be better ambassadors to Nigeria.