Malnutrition wiping out children under 5 in Northern Nigeria – Aid Workers

According to aid workers serving in Borno state, malnutrition is at ridiculous levels and it appears that a huge percentage of the 0-5 demographic have lost their lives due to worsening conditions.

An aid agency which has been in Borno since 2014, Doctors Without Borders, reported in November that it was seeing hardly any children under age 5 at its clinics, hospitals and feeding centers.

Measles, diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria — all of which are worsened when starvation weakens immune systems — were taking a huge toll on infants and toddlers, they said.

Despite the fact that more food has begun to arrive, Dr. Roberts, an emergency operations manager for Doctors Without Borders has said in a recent interview that, flow of food was immensely slowed for months by a tussle between the Nigerian government and aid agencies.

In December, President Buhari criticized UN agencies of magnifying Nigeria’s crisis in their appeal to donors for $1 billion. Two weeks ago, Borno’s governor, Kashim Shettima, accused some aid agencies of using the state as a cash cow and suggested they leave the country.

Doctors Without Borders, who are known for providing only medical care, now claim they have been forced to also go into the provision of food items such as palm oil and millet in a bid to provide for the people of Borno.

“Bureaucratic obstruction” by the government reportedly kept agencies like the World Food Program out for months despite the worsening condition of many of the children in Borno state today.

Source : New York TImes