Children Just do not Have to Die
Seventeen-month-old Nana Moussa was on the verge of death, in a remote rural village in south-central Niger, far from medical facilities. Her frail body, which had shrunk to a mere 4.3 kilograms, could no longer prop itself up. Alarmed, Nana's parents walked with her all night to reach a village with public transport, and then rode for six more hours in an overcrowded van to Maradi, a regional capital. Like many other poor parents in Niger struggling to provide adequate nutrition for their children, they finally reached the "Centre de récuperation nutritionnelle intensive", a therapeutic feeding centre operated by the non-governmental Médecins Sans frontières and supported by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Nana's recuperation was difficult, but she started to progress four weeks into her treatment for kwashiorkor. She, like many children too weak to process solid food, was first given an easy-to-digest milk formula rich in nutrients. As she grew stronger and her appetite returned, Nana proceeded to the next phase, in which a vitamin-rich peanut paste, "plumpy nut", was added to the diet. She would have to weigh at least 5.6 kg before returning home.
Interventions such as this "aren't complicated, they aren't expensive and they work", said UNICEF's Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Per Engebak in July. "We know what treated mosquito nets, immunization and vitamin A supplements, for instance, can do. With these and other simple measures in place, children just do not have to die. What we need now is for countries to make sure that life-saving health interventions get to the children who need them".
By Itai Madamombe in AFRICA RENEWAL, Vol. 19 N°4, January 2006
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