Nigeria: Children, Other IDPs Dying of Starvation and Malnutrition

Photo Credit: DailySabahAfrica

Due to the deadly insurgency of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, hundreds of thousands of survivors of their attacks, mostly Christians have been displaced from their homes.

On 22 June 2016, Médecins Sans Frontières – also known as Doctors Without Borders or MSF released an alarming report stating that At least 24,000 displaced people are in dire health situation in Bama, Borno State Nigeria. MSF flagged “Critical humanitarian needs identified for displaced in Bama.”

The report which was released by MSF in Abuja, Nigeria reads, “A catastrophic humanitarian emergency is currently unfolding in a camp for internally displaced people in Borno State, Nigeria. For several hours on 21 June, an MSF medical team was able to access the town of Bama in northeastern Nigeria, where 24,000 people, including 15,000 children (among them 4,500 under five years of age) are sheltered in a camp located on a hospital compound. During those few hours, the MSF medical team discovered a health crisis – referring 16 severely malnourished children at immediate risk of death to the MSF in-patient therapeutic feeding centre in Maiduguri. A rapid nutritional screening of more than 800 children found that 19 percent were suffering from severe acute malnutrition – the deadliest form of malnutrition. "This is the first time MSF has been able to access Bama, but we already know the needs of the people there are beyond critical,” said Ghada Hatim, MSF head of mission in Nigeria. “We are treating malnourished children in medical facilities in Maiduguri and see the trauma on the faces of our patients who have witnessed and survived many horrors. During its assessment, the MSF team counted 1,233 cemetery graves located near the camp which had been dug in the past year. Of those graves, 480 were for children…”

Read more at: http://www.msf.org/en/article/20160622-nigeria-least-24000-displaced-people-dire-health-situation-bama

MSF has been present in Borno State, Nigeria, since May 2014.

Previously on February 21, 2016, The Nigerian Vanguard published an article, “450 children died of malnutrition in 28 IDP camps in Borno.” This article stated that: the Executive Director of the Board, Dr Sule Mele, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri disclosed that ”The Borno Emergency Management Agency said on Sunday that about 450 children have died of malnutrition in 28 Internally Displaced Persons’ camps in the state in 2015….Mele said the victims were aged between one and five years. He said more than 209,577 children have been screened for various illnesses, including malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and vomiting. According to him, about 6,444 severe cases of malnutrition was recorded in the camps, 25,511 have mild to moderate symptoms, while 177,622 among them were not malnourished. He attributed the large number of malnutrition to lack of access to highly nutritious foods in the camps. “Poor feeding practices, such as inadequate breastfeeding, offering the wrong foods and not ensuring that the child gets enough nutritious food also contribute to malnutrition. “The food that is mostly served in the camps is always adults in nature which affect the health, growth and physical development of the children. “Even if the children get enough to eat, they will become malnourished if the food they eat does not provide the proper amounts of micro-nutrients, vitamins and minerals to meet daily nutritional requirements. “The children should at least be fed with an enriched groundnut pap, crayfish, periwinkles, millet, soya beans, moi-moi, fishes, pap, ugba and a whole lot of others. “The effects of inadequate nutrition and malnutrition include stunting and recurrent infections or chronic diseases. “Poor nutrition in terms of foods and feeding behaviours, especially during the first two years of life can lead to low immunity, significant illness, late development and death,’’ he said. Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/450-children-died-of-malnutrition-in-28-idp-camps-in-borno/”

Rt. General Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria, travels frequently on short vacation breaks and medical treatments abroad. Most recently he traveled to the United Kingdom for treatment for an ear infection and was there for at least 10 days. This makes one wonder in a country where the president can travel abroad to seek medical treatment for an ear infection, why children, women and men should be dying of malnutrition and starvation, especially those already traumatized by the deadly Boko Haram terrorist organization. This is certainly "food for thought."

__________________

Additional Information on Nigeria's IDPs:

As December 2014, the IDP statistics in Nigeria published jointly by the International Organization of Migration and Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA): 389,281 IDPs (60,232ü households) were identified in in Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states. The highest number of IDPsü are in Yobe (125,991 IDPs), followed by Adamawa (123,601 IDPs) and Taraba (81,790 IDPs). The IDP population isü composed of 54 % women and 46% men. 58% of the total IDPü population are children of which more than half are up to 5 years old, while 42% are adults. 77% of IDPs were displaced byü the insurgency. The majority of the current IDPü population was displaced in 2014 (81%). The IDPs come mainly fromü Adamawa (37.7%), Borno (20.3%) and Yobe (20%). 92.4% of IDPs live with hostü families while 7.6% live in camp

As of December 2015 IDMC estimates that there are almost 2,152,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Nigeria as of 31 December 2015.* [According to International Displacement Monitoring Centre – IDMC)” “*These are preliminary estimates that will be subject to review in the context of the finalisation of IDMC's 2016 yearly report on internal displacement, to be published in May 2016. This figure is based on an assessment conducted from November to December 2015 by the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) team in 207 Local Government Areas (LGA) covering 13 States of Northern Nigeria: Abuja (13,481 IDPs); Adamawa (136,010); Bauchi (70,078); Benue (85,393); Borno (1,434,149); Gombe (25,332); Kaduna (36,976); Kano (9,331); Nasarawa (37,553); Plateau (77,317); Taraba (50,227); Yobe (131,203); and Zamfara (44,929) (IOM/NEMA).