The
Government of Nigeria and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) through the
Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) said they have reached
more than a million Nigerian children with a highly successful and
cost-effective treatment for acutely malnourished children, saving over 200,000
lives in the past six years, ITRealms
reports.
About 1.7 million Nigerian children under the
age of five years are severely and acutely malnourished, accounting for a tenth
of the global total. Nearly a thousand Nigerian children die of
malnutrition-related causes every day – a total of 361,000 each year as acute
malnutrition also leads to stunting of children causing life-long physical limitations
and reduction in intellectual capacity.
According to a release by
the Chief of
Communication at UNICEF, Doune Porter, Community-based Management of Acute
Malnutrition (CMAM) was piloted in Gombe and Kebbi States in 2009 and has now
been introduced in 11 northern Nigerian states where malnutrition poses the
greatest threat.
CMAM treats acutely malnourished
children from six months to five years old on an out-patient basis. More than
830,000 children, ITRealms learnt,
have been cured in the programme with the cure rate rising steadily – currently
standing at 85 per cent. Of the remaining children, about two per cent do not
respond to treatment and are referred to hospitals; the current mortality rate,
the report said, is just one per cent, while the other children have defaulted from
the programme.
“We
must scale-up CMAM in Nigeria. It is a proven high-impact intervention that is
saving lives and helping Nigerian children reach their full potential through a
good start in life,” noted UNICEF Nigeria Representative Jean Gough. “We need
greater investment in Nigeria’s future by investment in good nutrition,” she
added.
“The
Government of Nigeria is committed to reaching more children with CMAM,” said
Linus Awute, Permanent Secretary of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health,
“We cannot accept that Nigerian children continue to die of malnutrition and
that our potential future leaders should be diminished by its effects.”
CMAM,
ITRealms learnt, is carried out
during weekly appointments over approximately eight weeks at primary health
care centres. It includes education of parents and caregivers on nutrition, the
importance of continuing breast-feeding and the role of hand-washing and
hygiene. The nutrition status of the children is assessed during the CMAM
sessions and children are given a health screening; if necessary, they are also
treated for other illnesses. Children are given highly nutritious Ready-to-Use
Therapeutic Food (RUTF) during the sessions and mothers and caregivers are
provided with supplies of RUTF to feed the child at home.
The
cost for CMAM is just US$160, about N34,400 for each child treated, including
US$76 about N16,340 for the RUTF; the remaining US$84 N18,060 covers all other
costs, including staff time and training, transport and storage of supplies,
and basic medicines. UNICEF and the Government of Nigeria are scaling up the
CMAM response and UNICEF is advocating increased investment in CMAM from both
the Government of Nigeria and external donors.
Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE
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Pix:Jean Gough
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