This year in north Nigeria, nearly 600,000 children are at risk of death due to malnutrition without medical treatment. In the center of Maiduguri, our staff is at the forefront for the treatment of malnutrition
“I’m proud of little Aisha, she was orphaned on the road to Maiduguri when she was only 6 months old, but she managed to survive. We cared for her, and her story prompted the creation of the milk bank.” So says Dr. Atilio Rivera-Vasquez, medical coordinator of INTERSOS Nigeria, when he describes with emphasis and precision the work done by humanitarian workers in the State of Borno, in the north of the country, one of the areas most affected by hunger and ensuing infantile malnutrition.
The milk bank provides fragile infants a second chance at life; to feed, to grow, to live. At the center for the treatment of malnourished children in the state of Borno, INTERSOS provides essential care with the milk from donor mothers. Aisha is one of the many children who risked losing her life after also losing her mother. The milk bank consists of this precisely, in providing life-saving nutrition with a donor bank of small amounts of milk from other nursing mothers in the center, maintained with highest clinical attention to safety.
Food insecurity and malnutrition are increasing
The story of hunger in Nigeria – and especially in the State of Borno – requires listing constantly growing numbers, further aggravated this year by the global pandemic, and its consequent economic and social repercussions. Among the most acute consequences caused by the spread of COVID-19 is the shortage of food. The inevitable increase in hunger is among the most worrying and rapidly growing crises in different parts of the world. Nigeria is among the countries considered most at-risk, as highlighted by the recent joint reports of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) and WFP (World Food Programme), with clear signs of increased famine and hunger. Internal political and social instability has become a daily constant for the Nigerian population, which takes on a degree of normalcy when experienced over the course of several years.
Dr. Atilio Rivera speaks to us with precision and alarm about what is happening in the country: “We have never seen a situation like this. It is serious; it is worrying beyond belief, and it continues to worsen.” Atilio Rivera comments on the latest data on malnutrition collected by our humanitarian workersin the State of Borno. In the data examined from two districts, Bama and Magumeri, the GAM (Global Acute Malnutrition) malnutrition index almost doubled between August 2020 and March 2021. FAO estimates that this year 1,148,906 children are at risk of malnutrition, of which 600,000 are in severe acute form, the latter of which can be lethal without medical treatment. More and more children between 0 and 5 years are at risk of falling into severe acute malnutrition (known as MAS).
The humanitarian emergency in the state of Borno
In Maiduguri, the capital of the state of Borno, INTERSOS runs a new center specialized in the treatment of malnutrition since January 2021. This is a medical facility capacitated for attending to the most severe cases, in addition to cases of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and measles. Local external factors further complicate the field work of the INTERSOS unit. The north of the country is the perfect representation of the sum of all the volatile elements that characterize the Nigerian territory. Among the main problems that afflict the population, hunger is the most present and firmly rooted throughout the region.
INTERSOS has been active in Nigeria since 2016, specifically in the State of Borno, where it provides medical treatment for malnutrition and works to address the food emergency on the ground level. With a population of 5.4 million, the State of Borno is among the areas most affected by food insecurity due to the complex socio-political situation, a result strong internal and external instability that characterizes neighboring countries such as Chad, Niger, and Cameroon.
In this semi-desert area close to Lake Chad, which has been afflicted for over 10 years by violent armed conflict, the numbers reflect a veritable humanitarian catastrophe. In total, according to the World Food Program, 395,700 people are suffering conditions of extreme food insecurity in the three states of northeastern Nigeria (Borno, Yobe and Adamawa) which are among those most affected by the crisis.
The COVID-19 pandemic increases world hunger and famine levels
Over the past three months, the number of families in northern Nigeria who have been forced to apply for aid from humanitarian organisations has soared. The need for essential goods, in addition to the difficulties in accessing already deficient and inadequate medical facilities, has inevitably led to the emergence of a critical and worsening humanitarian condition.
“The population faces three often insurmountable challenges” – explains Dr. Rivera – “Those who are displaced and no longer have land to cultivate, cannot produce food for self-sufficiency and depend entirely on external aid. But those who cannot be reached by aid due to the security conditions that prevent humanitarian access will not receive the food they need. And who, for reasons of security or lack of services, will not be able to access health facilities, will not be able to be treated”.
Over the past year, the situation has been further aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The loss of jobs, which in many cases consist of daily or part-time labor, has increased in recent months. “Undeclared famine” is the term that now circulates in the analyses and reports from humanitarian organizations. “These are heavy words, but we have to write them down, because this is the situation. We know that we will face further deterioration in the coming months. And we will have to be ready, ” concludes Rivera.