Anaemic child.
Image Source: The Sun
Angela Onwuzoo
Nutrition and child health experts have expressed worry over the health and future of Nigeria’s children under the age of five years following the United Nations Children’s Fund disclosure that 23.5 million out of the 35 million are suffering from anaemia.
Besides being plagued by anaemia, UNICEF also said 12 million children under five are stunted with three million others wasted.
The experts, while frowning at the worrisome statistics noted that anaemia, which has been described as a manifestation of malnutrition would have serious implications on the mental and physical development of the affected children.
The senior health and nutrition professionals, while reacting to the staggering figures during exclusive interviews with PUNCH Healthwise, gave insight into the implications, warning that children suffering from anaemia may not achieve their full potential if urgent steps are not taken to remedy the situation.
Calling on the government to urgently and holistically address the problem, the experts reminded policymakers that children who are anaemic will perform poorly in school and will also become unproductive adults, thereby being unable to contribute to national development.
UNICEF’s nutrition officer, Nkeiru Enwelum, while citing the Cadre Harmonisé report, disclosed the alarming statistics in Port Harcourt, River State, during a media dialogue on child malnutrition, with a focus on nutrition financing.
In her presentation, Enwelum, said, “While there are 35 million children under the age of five in Nigeria, 12 million of them are stunted, three million are wasted and 23.5 million are anaemic.
“Also, Nigeria is currently ranked first in Africa and second globally in terms of the number of children who are malnourished.”
According to the World Health Organisation, anaemia is a serious global public health problem, affecting 571 million women and 269 million young children worldwide.
“In 2019, anaemia affected 40 per cent of children between six months and five years of age; 37 per cent of pregnant women and 30 per cent of women 15–49 years of age.
“It is most prevalent in low- and middle-income countries. Anaemia increases the risk of infections and death, impairs cognitive performance, and causes extreme fatigue, poor pregnancy outcomes, loss of earnings, and poor growth and development. It is a strong indicator of overall health”, WHO said.
Speaking with our correspondent, a Professor of Public Health Nutrition at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Beatrice Ogunba, decried the high burden of child malnutrition in Nigeria, noting that it had assumed a frightening dimension.
Professor Beatrice Ogunba
Ogunba, with a specialisation in maternal and child nutrition, noted that children battling anaemia may not do well both in their childhood and adulthood.
According to her, anaemia in children is a public health problem that must be urgently addressed especially now that there is a window of opportunity.
Harping on the dangers of anaemia and how it truncates children’s future, the nutritionist explained, “It is going to affect their cognitive development. It will also affect their motor development.
“Let’s look at cognitive development for example. A child who is anaemic has an educational disability. For that child, there will be poor attention in school, poor memory and lack of focus.
“Anaemia makes someone tired and there will be fatigue. It affects their thinking when it comes to understanding.
“Their understanding is so low because most of the time, they are not focused. So, for this kind of children, educationally, they will be a deficit compared to their age mates and it will reduce school achievement.”
The don affirmed that children suffering from anaemia perform woefully in their studies and rarely contribute to meaningful national economic development.
Giving further insight, the professor said, “They will fail their exams and end up as unproductive adults who are unable to contribute to the economic development of the country.
“So, for that kind of child, it is a minus one for us as a nation. About 68 per cent of under-five children in the country are anaemic. That means out of every 10 children, six of them are anaemic and that is a terrible thing for us when it comes to national development.
“It is something that we need to look at because when it comes to economic contribution to the nation, productivity will be very low.”
Continuing, Ogunba said anaemia also increases morbidity and mortality in children, adding, “For these types of children, they will be in and out of the hospital and when this happens, they will also be in and out of school.
“We are more or less risking their future when it comes to contributions to national development.”
On how to tackle the problem, the nutritionist suggested, “We need to address it on time. We need to do a lot of interventions in that window of opportunities.
“As a nation, we should not risk the future of the next generation. We need to do something, especially in the area of food fortification.
“We also have to look at breastfeeding. We should secure them in the first 1000 days and move to fortified foods. Also, women of reproductive age should be protected from anaemia.”
Corroborating Ogunba’s statement, a Consultant Paediatrician at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Professor Afolabi Lesi, said anaemia could have both short and long-term devastating impacts on children.
Professor Afolabi Lesi
Lesi, a former Provost, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, explained, “If you are anaemic, your ability to carry oxygen to vital organs is restricted and this can affect any organ.
“It can affect the heart and make it weak and not function properly. We call it heart failure. It can affect other organs.
“From the point of view of development, the most critical one is that it can affect school performance — intelligence, such that the children may not do well academically.
“And if it affects the brain at a very critical period of growth, you can imagine the future of that child.
The paediatrician went on to say that children who are anaemic may not be able to achieve their fullest potential because their brains did not develop and receive all the oxygen needed.
The don said, “So, in the long term, the ones you cannot see are the effects on the potential of that individual and how it can affect national productivity.
“So it has huge implications not only for the child but for the family because if he cannot achieve the fullest potential for himself and his family, his family will suffer.
“The nation ultimately will suffer. If children are the future of the nation and the brain of these children is affected by anaemia, it is going to affect their productivity in the future.”
Lesi urged the government to provide necessary interventions and address the problem, even as called for effective implementation of the school feeding programme.
“Most of the anaemia we see is nutritional, so the school feeding programme is essential. More importantly, awareness is important. As part of the school health programme, we need to check the haemoglobin and genotype of children entering school”, he recommended.
The UNICEF’s Nutrition Officer, Enwelum further said with N11,000, Nigerian children will have access to supplements such as zinc, vitamin A, and ORS for diarrhoea, with the updated ORS supplement providing electrolytes.
According to her, supplements like multi-micronutrient powder, deworming, folic supplementation, iron fortification, and salt iodization are essential for children to prevent malnutrition.
“The total to deliver all these preventive interventions per child per year is N11,000. This time last year, when we did the analysis, 14 dollars were N6,000 at the CBN rate. Now the same 14 dollars is about N11,000, but the price in dollars is constant.
“We need to prevent malnutrition. When malnutrition occurs, you need to treat it to save the child’s life essentially.
“If there is no treatment and prevention, it can lead to cognitive and growth impacts. It can lead to a loss of income for households. If a baby is sick, the mother won’t be able to work.”
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