There was pandemonium at the Ojo area of Lagos State some days back. Reason: A woman had just discovered that her three children were dead. It was already over a month since the total lockdown in the state and neither the woman nor her husband could go out to eke out a living.
According to neighbours, they had been managing to feed since the lockdown as the husband who is a vulcanizer had not had any job to do and she couldn’t go out to sell her wares either.
Out of frustration, the woman was said to have given her children who had not eaten anything for two days, some medicine to sleep pending the time their father would come back as he had found a way to go out to look for food for them.
When he returned, they tried to wake the children up. Shockingly, they were dead.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), child malnutrition is a direct or underlying cause of 45 per cent of all deaths of children under five years worldwide. Malnutrition refers to getting too little or too much nutrients. It can lead to serious health issues, including stunted growth, eye problems, diabetes and heart disease.
Currently, Nigeria has the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 32 per cent of children under five. Estimated 2.5 million children in Nigeria suffer from severe malnutrition, but only two out of every 10 children affected is currently reached with treatment.
There’ll be increased malnutrition: UNICEF
When The Nation contacted UNICEF, its Chief of Nutrition, Simeon Nanama said amid COVID-19 pandemic, UNICEF has intensified efforts in the fight against child malnutrition in Nigeria.
According to him, with the rise in the scourge of COVID-19 pandemic, UNICEF has rejigged its fight against child malnutrition, even as he added that before the outbreak of the pandemic Nigeria was struggling with child malnutrition both as a public health and development concern.
He said Nigeria relies heavily on oil and the price of oil has gone down because of COVID-19. This has greatly impacted its economy. Internally Nigeria is on lockdown and a lot of people who rely on daily work to earn a living are all in their homes. Nanama said this will have an impact on nutrition.
“Again, these mitigation measures are happening at the beginning of the rainy season. If they had to be extended, they will affect the planting season. This will result in medium-and long-term impact on food security and this, in the long run, will affect child malnutrition,” he said.
On the problem associated with the lockdown, which he said is the disruption of the food system which is critically important for nutrition, he said: “We will see an increase in malnutrition. We will also see a spread in the geographic distribution of malnutrition because the lockdown is more severe in some states than in others.
“Also, cities where lockdowns appear to be more enforced, may become the new centres of child malnutrition, which has not been the pattern of malnutrition in Nigeria.”
On what they have done, he said UNICEF has done a COVID-19 proofing of its nutrition programme, which aims to ensure that it continues to deliver critical nutrition services while observing the mitigation measures, including social distancing and hand washing.
“We have received a lot of guidance from the regional office and from the global level which applied to our programmes and those guidelines have been shared with government to ensure that they can use and implement it,” he said.
He said UNICEF encouraged the government to establish a task force on nutrition to help get a voice at the presidential task force on COVID-19, to ensure that the mitigation measures and support that government is providing includes nutrition.
Nanama said the UNICEF is advocating to government to “make sure that there is access to health centres, that the flow of food and other nutrition services are not impeded, and the food supply system is not completely broken. To make sure they factor nutrition in actions and palliatives such as food distribution for COVID-19.
“In the context where schools are closed, it is important to still reach children with food and commodities because we know that in some areas, children rely on this school feeding programme to get their only daily food intake.
“UNICEF is also in collaboration with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) so that infected mothers who have children under the age of two are able to breastfeed their babies in line with the guidelines on breastfeeding and COVID-19.”
In enforcing the social distancing restriction, he said UNICEF has trained mothers and supplied them with middle and upper arm circumference (MUAC) tapes so that they can screen their children themselves and bring them to the health facilities for treatment. He said it has also changed the admission modalities at the malnutrition treatment centres.
“Instead of designating one day in a week for treatment of malnourished children, it is now daily. This limits the crowds and enforces social distancing which is one of the COVID-19 mitigation measures. These actions are aimed at limiting the impact of COVID-19 on child malnutrition in Nigeria and not exacerbate the problem,” he said.
Fruits, vegetables important – Brai
One time President Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Bartholomew Brai, of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti who spoke with The Nation on phone said Nutrition is a multi-sectorial issue. Once any sector is facing a major problem, it will impact negatively on the nutritional status of individuals.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic is a major health issue around the world. “Nations are adopting several but diverse measures that could lead to the containment of the disease. These measures include partial or total lockdown of cities/regions and restrictions on local and international travels.
“The pandemic is mopping up the financial resources of individuals, households, communities and nations as well as disrupting the food systems and existing strategies to address the high burden of malnutrition in Nigeria.
“Mandatory lockdowns have led to income reductions/losses due to loss of jobs/livelihoods. Thus individuals find it difficult to provide for their families.
“The food supply chain is affected by the restrictions on movement. Supply constraints bring about demand shocks and its attendant price hikes leading to breakdown of food markets. All these will negatively affect access to food,” he said.
Brai said at the moment our weak health care system is overburdened, adding that resources for nutrition, including health care providers, are being mobilised to combat COVID-19.
“Health and nutrition services such as antenatal care, micronutrients supplementation, prevention and treatment of childhood diarrhea, infections and acute malnutrition are no longer receiving adequate attention,” he said.
Calling on various stakeholders to work together to effectively manage the pandemic, promote adequate nutrition and reduce post-COVID-19 burden and severity of malnutrition, he said government should provide resources for maternal and child health care by ensuring availability of care providers, adequate and regular provision of essential maternal and infant health care services. It should equally sustain life-saving efforts to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as malaria and diarrhea.
“Government should make use of available community structures to reach school-age children enrolled in the school home-grown feeding programme,” he said.
On what individuals and parents should do, he said individuals should eat balanced meals to ensure adequate nutrition, parents should choose from the various food groups to ensure adequate consumption of nutrients- both in quality and quantity.
“Fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season should be included in the diet to supply vitamins and minerals,” he noted.
Not leaving physical activities out, he said it should be encouraged to prevent overweight and obesity which are forms of over nutrition.
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