Born and raised in Boko Haram captivity, four-year-old Seidu has been offered a rare chance of revival from what severe acute malnutrition that may have cost him his life. Onche Odeh writes.
The timely intervention of health workers on field mission to one of the camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) along the Nigeria-Niger Republic border may have saved four-year-old Danjuma Seidu from dying of complications due to severe acute malnutrition.
Seidu and his five other siblings have been traversing the rough terrains along the fringes of the two countries in search of safety after escaping from captivity under Boko Haram.
For Seidu, life has been far from pleasurable, as he lost his father shortly after he was conceived, leaving him with the tough choice of bearing the brunt of life in captivity, even as a foetus. His mother Amina, had been taken captive by Boko Haram fighters after killing the husband alongside many other males when they laid siege to their village in Baga, in Borno State. At this time, she was only one month pregnant with Seidu.
“One day, our village in Baga was attacked by Boko Haram. They killed my husband and took me and some others away to their camp close to Niger Republic. Then I was already one month pregnant with him (referring to Seidu),” Amina recounted.
Speaking during an interview with this reporter in Maiduguri, Amina said life in Boko Haram captivity was second to hell, as they were given food only once a day. For a pregnant woman who has five other kids to cater for, this may be suicidal, especially for the unborn child, as nutrition experts have said the first 1000 days of a child, beginning from the day of conception is the most important if such a child must attain full physical and mental potentials.
Seidu and mother
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the period between conception and one’s second birthday “is a unique period of opportunity when the foundations of optimum health, growth, and neurodevelopment across the lifespan are established.”
Yet too frequently in developing countries, poverty and its attendant condition, malnutrition, weaken this foundation, leading to earlier mortality and significant morbidities such as poor health, and more insidiously, substantial loss of neurodevelopmental potential.
Months after Seidu was born, the mother and some others found an escape route out of the Boko Haram camp. From there, they were rescued by men of Nigerian military forces and taken to one of the IDPs camps across the borders.
Seidu, who was already ailing from severe acute malnutrition at this point was discovered and taken into a treatment facility by health officials during one of their field visits for medical outreach to the camp.
This reporter encountered Seidu, who had turned four, five days after he was taken into the treatment facility. He looked more like a 9-month old. He had become so frail over the years, looking anaemic, with obvious signs of stunting which are manifestations of severe acute malnutrition in children.
Although, Seidu may have been left for too long before help came his way, all hope is not lost on him. Within just five days of being admitted into the facilities, he has started showing signs of recovery.
This has restored some happiness to the mother, who has borne the burden of carrying a child that just won’t grow for four years without knowing the real cause.
According to Amina, feeding the new-born and her other five children while they stayed in the camp was a big challenge. This probably may have aggravated Seidu’s already bad condition, having suffered grave nutrients deficiency right after being conceived.
For a child to have good physical and mental health, experts say the child must be fed with adequate and appropriate diets, most of which are found in available foods. Else, they say the child may suffer irreversible lifelong consequences, like low intelligence, stunting and other conditions synonymous to malnutrition.
Nutrition experts say malnutrition, if allowed to degenerate to chronic or severe stage could be “a life or death sentence.”
Abigeal Nyukuri, UNICEF’s Nutrition Specialist in Borno State who spoke on the consequences of malnutrition to the child and the nation said, “Children who suffer malnutrition have higher risk of death. It has been found that they are 11 times likely to die compared to their normal peers.”
And for those who are lucky to pull through life under the condition, she said they are likely to suffer “irreversible Brain damage and compromised intellectual capacity in adulthood,”.
Seidu may be one of few lucky children out of an estimated 2.5 million others under the age of 5 that suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM ) every year in Nigeria.
The situation is even more precarious in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe where it has been estimated that not less than 440,000 Boys and Girls under the age of 5 will suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition at the end of 2019.
“Prevalence of Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) among Boys and Girls aged below 5 Years is 11% in Borno, 13% in Yobe and 6% Adamawa,” Nyukuri said, adding that the protracted access constraints and Insecurity has made the Situation even worse in Rann (Kala Balge), South Yobe, Magumeri, Jere and Konduga LGAs.
“The poor Nutrition situation is further worsened by poor Food Security situation, sub-optimal Water, Hygiene and Sanitation Practices and high Disease Burden,” she said.
A good measure of progress is, however, being made towards pulling many more children from the crutches of death and intellectual incapacitation caused by malnutrition.
Through the Flexible Integrated and Timely (FIT) Project, a N16 billion (35 million Pound Sterling) multi-sectoral nutrition project intervention led by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), many cases of emerging/deteriorating nutrition-related crises are being detected in Borno through an agile nutrition surveillance system and provide timely response through the implementation of an integrated basic Nutrition package.
With FIT, DFID has established active interventions to curb malnutrition in North East Nigeria. These include Community Based Management of Acute Malnutrition, Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices, Micronutrient supplementation, Early Childhood Development, among others.
In Yobe, DFID is funding a N2.3 billion (5 million Pound Sterling) intervention project tagged, ‘Working to Improve Nutrition in Northern Nigeria (WINNN)’ to improve maternal and young child nutrition in Northern Nigeria.
If this is sustained Seidu and many other Nigerian child suffering malnutrition would be rescued while many more others would be saved from suffering it. This, however, could be achieved with absolute support from the government, the community and other partners.
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