Concern as Bauchi PHC receives over 400 malnourished babies weekly
Rauf Oyewole, Bauchi
It’s not a ‘Happy Children’s Day’ for kids and mothers who are battling severe malnutrition and survival of their little innocent babies in Bauchi communities.
A cross section of mothers who spoke with our correspondent in Bauchi on Wednesday said that ongoing hardship has taken a balanced diet away from their dining table.
According to them, the situation has pushed them into giving their children available food far from micronutrient-dense food.
A visit to Yelwa Domiciliary Health Care Centre, Bauchi showed that about 400 malnourished babies are recorded on Wednesday and Thursday –nutrition day. This has put pressure on the available therapeutic food to treat malnutrition – Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).
Nigeria’s economic reform has pushed more families into poverty. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index survey, 63 percent of persons living within Nigeria (133 million people) are multidimensionally poor. Meanwhile, 65 percent of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35 percent (nearly 47 million) live in the South.
Some of the mothers who spoke with our correspondent attributed the malnutrition to economic hardship where they could not afford varieties of food.
Maimuna Ibrahim is a nursing mother with a six month old malnourished baby who refused to do exclusive breastfeeding. She explained that: “I actually did not do exclusive breastfeeding because I do not have breast milk. I started giving the baby pap and water. I took him to a traditional home where they told me that he has skin disease but when I came to hospital they told me it is malnutrition.
“In my first baby, I did not do exclusive breastfeeding but there was no case of malnutrition. I have heard about exclusive breastfeeding but I regret not doing it. Everyone in my area is blaming me for his condition.
“I’m also blaming myself because I don’t think my son deserves this condition. Exclusive breastfeeding doesn’t cost anything,” she said.
Hussaina Hassan, mother of a-two-year and three-month-old girl who also skipped exclusive breastfeeding said that the young girl does not eat food apart from water.
“If she eats, she will vomit and if we force her she will faint. She has been taking only water since I gave birth to her. She hasn’t even taken a pap over the last two years,” she said.
The Nutrition Officer at the PHC, Mukhtar Ahmad said that there has been a sudden upsurge in the cases of severely malnourished babies due to poor intake of food with adequate nutrients.
“When we started our nutrition clinic, we were expecting about 10 cases but we got about 200 cases in one clinic day –on Wednesday and the same thing on Thursday.”
Mukhtar attributed this to family poverty, selection of foods during pregnancy and economic hardship.
“When they come, we teach them a combination of homemade micronutrients-dense food. Some of the cases we had in the past have recovered and are doing well.”
Philomena Irene is a Nutrition Specialist with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Bauchi Field Office, she said that, to meet the minimum dietary diversity for healthy growth and development, children need to consume foods from at least five out of the eight recommended food groups.
“The eight food groups are: breast milk; grains, roots, tubers and plantains; pulses (beans, peas, lentils), nuts and seeds; dairy products (milk, infant formula, yogurt, cheese); flesh foods (meat, fish, poultry, organ meats); eggs; vitamin-A-rich fruits and vegetables; and other fruits and vegetables.
“If children are fed with 0 to 2 food groups per day- they are experiencing chronic food poverty, 3 to 4 food groups/day they experience moderate food poverty. 5 or more food groups per day- they met the minimum dietary diversity,” she said.
Philomena urged the government to embrace the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) which is a new financing mechanism designed to accelerate the scale-up of sustainable policies, programmes and supplies to end child wasting.
