MALNUTRITION: Niger: Red Cross volunteers make vital contribution in the fight against malnutrition

6 August 2010
Moussa Maliki is 42, but looks younger than his age. Despite his casual appearance, his eyes are alive, full of energy. A volunteer with the Red Cross Society of Niger since 1986, a few days ago he started working at the health centre in Goudel in the suburbs of Niger’s capital, Niamey. The centre is supported by the French Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).Every morning, he travels the ten or so kilometres to get to his new place of work. From morning to evening, Moussa only enjoys a brief respite. He oversees a team of volunteers who work tirelessly to save hundreds of malnourished children who come each day with their mothers for a consultation at the health centre.Sometimes, he fills in a referral form and sometimes he screens the children by measuring their nutritional status through a tape that goes around their left forearm. The bracelet is divided into three parts to indicate the severity of malnutrition. The red zone indicates severe malnutrition, the yellow zone shows moderate malnutrition and the green indicates that the child is well fed.Increased malnutritionMoussa Maliki is one of 400 volunteers the Nigerien Red Cross has trained, with the support of the IFRC, to combat malnutrition in the outskirts of Niamey and in the Dosso region. These areas have little food due to poor harvests last year. The result is that malnutrition among children is increasing. The situation is also exacerbated by the fact that many farming families have fled the harsh life and risk of starvation in rural villages and have come to settle in the outskirts of the capital.“66 per cent of the children we see each day are malnourished,” says Nana Barira Moustapha, welfare officer at the health centre in Goudel. According to a national survey published by the Nigerien government, nearly 17 per cent of children under five in Niger are suffering from acute malnutrition, an increase of 42 per cent over the same period last year.“Most families here do not have resources to meet minimum daily food requirements and it is children who suffer first,” says Moussa Maliki.Screening and managementMalnutrition is so widespread that some families do not immediately notice their child’s weight loss. Hundreds of volunteers from the Niger Red Cross criss-cross neighbourhoods looking for signs of malnutrition among children and asking them to return to the health centre. They also educate families about the best feeding practices for children through nutrition education.“Children with severe malnutrition are referred to health centres where they receive adequate care and food rations,” says Moussa.In July, when the temperature exceeds 40 degrees, Moussa continues to move back and forth between the unit and the courtyard of the nutritional health centre where women patiently wait their turn.He takes Mohammed Nazir, a 15-month-old boy, to be weighed. The results aren’t positive. Mohammed is in the red zone. His severe malnutrition is confirmed when the needle on the scales stops at 6 kg – extremely low for his height of 77 cm.“This is the latest in a long line of serious cases of malnutrition this morning,” says Moussa.Mohammed’s mother tests her son’s appetite by trying to get him to swallow a sachet of food therapy. After first rejecting it, Mohammed eventually swallows it, bringing a smile not only to his mother’s face, but also to Moussa’s.
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