450 died of malnutrition in Borno IDP camps in 2015 - NEMA

According to the Borno Emergency Management Agency, no less than 450 children died of malnutrition in 28 Internally Displaced Persons’ camps in the state in 2015.

The Executive Director of the Board, Dr Sule Mele, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN in Maiduguri on Sunday that the victims were aged between one and five years.

He said that 209,577 children were screened for various illnesses, including malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and vomiting.

He added that 6,444 severe cases of malnutrition were recorded in the camps, while 25,511 had mild to moderate symptoms.

He said that the high incidence of malnutrition in the IDP camps was due to the lack of highly nutritious foods.

His words:
“Poor feeding practices, such as inadequate breastfeeding, offering the wrong foods and not ensuring that the child gets enough nutritious food also contributes 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 disclosed that the state government is partnering with an NGO, Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition, CMAM to treat children with severe malnutrition in the IDP camps.

News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports that Dr Mele advised the Federal Government to adopt the U.S. Special Supplemental Nutrition Programme for Women, Infants and Children for healthcare and nutrition to enable proper supplementary feeding for children in IDP camps.

NAN