MALNUTRITION: Children ‘severely malnourished’ inNortheast – UNICEF warns

The United Nation children’s agency says almost a quarter of a million
children in parts of Borno state are suffering from severe malnutrition.
The North-east region was formerly under the control of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF warned “tens of thousands will die if treatment does not reach them”.
In areas where Boko Haram militants had been in control, UN says it found people without water, food or sanitation.
Boko Haram’s seven-year rebellion has left 20,000 people dead and more than two million displaced.
However, in the past few months, the military has succeeded in beating back the Islamist militant sect and significantly reduced the amount of suicide attacks on innocent civilians in the northeast.
Although last month, another aid organisation said people who were trying to escape from Boko Haram had starved to death.
According to MSF statement in June that a “catastrophic humanitarian emergency” was unfolding at one camp in Bama, Borno state, where 24,000 people had taken refuge.

Many inhabitants were traumatised and one in five children was suffering from acute malnutrition, it said.
Following the revelation, Nigeria’s House of Representatives launched an investigation into the alleged diversion of funds in Internally displaced persons camp.
The Reps directed its Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness; Aids, Loans and Debt Management; IDPs and
North East Development to jointly look into the matter concerning the plight of the IDPs.
Nigeria’s military is involved in a large-scale offensive against the group.
Also, UNICEF added that as more areas in North Eastern Nigeria become available to charitable help, the rate of the nutritional
crisis affecting children is becoming more evident.
About 244,000 children were found to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Borno State, and it is most likely that almost one in five would die if they were not treated,
UNICEF says.
Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s Regional Director for Western and Central Africa said, “Some 134 children on average will die every day from causes linked to acute malnutrition if the
response is not scaled up quickly.”
“We need all partners and donors to step forward to prevent any more children from dying. No-one can take on a crisis of this scale alone.”
Fontaine added that he had seen devastated towns housing displaced people and thousands of fragile children in desperate need of help.
“There are two million people we are still not able to reach in Borno state, which means that the true scope of this crisis has yet to be revealed to the world,” he added.
“There are organizations on the ground doing great work, but none of us are able to work at the scale and quality that we need. We must all scale up.”

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