Malnutrition: EU/UNICEF treat 1,298 cases in Adamawa — official

No fewer than 1,298 cases of acute malnutrition were treated in Fufore Local Government Area of Adamawa under the EU/UNICEF supported Community Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAN) programme.

Mrs Monday Leasado, the Nutrition Officer of the LG Primary Healthcare Unit disclosed this in an interview with our reporter in Fufore town on Thursday.

She said the cases treated were out of the 2,098 cases recorded from January to November in the six CMAN treatment sites in the local government area.

She lauded the impact of the sites located in Fufore, Gurin, Karlahi, Mayo-Ine, Wurro-Bokki and Pariya for drastically reducing cases of death from malnutrition in the area, pointing out that so far only one death was recorded from January to date.

Leasado called for the creation of additional CMAM sites in the area pointing out that apart from being one of the largest local government in the state, Future is hosting many Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in addition to patients coming from neigbouring Cameroon Republic to access treatment in the centres.

“More women in the local government are now very much aware of the centres and never hesitate in bringing their malnourished children for treatment,” she said.

Some of the women who brought their children in the centre at Fufore expressed satisfaction with the services being provided and urged for sustainance of the programme.

Fadimatu Mohammed, who brought her 10-month-old baby to the centre, said she was overwhelmed by the baby’s positive response to treatment.

“I came all the way from Wuro-Ardo village to Fofure town because I heard about this centre from another woman accessing treatment.

“For the past six weeks I was bringing my daughter Aisha to this centre for treatment and you can see how her condition has improved and she has the stamina to play like other normal children.

“As parents we are short of words to express out gratitude and can only thank God, the government and all those involved in this laudable programme,” Mohammed said.

NAN recalls that in a meeting with Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa in September this year, the Chief of UNICEF Bauchi Field Office overseeing Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba states, Mr Bhanu Pathak, said about 8,000 children were severely malnourished in Adamawa and needed urgent attention to save their lives.

According to the Standard Monitoring Assessment of Relief Transition (SMART) report of 2015, over 800,000 children under the age of five in Adamawa are stunted due to malnutrition and that over 34,000 of the children were severely malnourished.