Malnutrition ‘kills 240 displaced children’ in Borno

Doctors Without Border, a humanitarian aid group, says a total of 240 displaced children have died of malnutrition in Borno state.

Moctar Abari, emergency officer of the group – which is also known as Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF) – made this known in an interview with NAN on Monday.

Abari said the cases were recorded between January and May at various internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in the state as well as within communities.

He said 12,161 malnourished children were treated at the group’s facilities in the state.

“Some of the displaced persons are staying with their relatives in the metropolis and their children afflicted with malnutrition,” he said.

Abari added that the organisation had conducted 547,626 malnutrition screening exercises at various health posts in the state.

He said the organisation had distributed 6,971 foodstuff and 5,932 consumables, adding that 24,855 children were enrolled into its feeding programme.

“The MSF had registered 140,679 expectant mothers under its antenatal care services, while 3,398 deliveries were recorded within the period under review,” he said.

“Some 49,063 children were inoculated against measles, while 72,955 others were administered with oral polio vaccines (OPV).”

The organisation is working towards providing emergency response “to enhance primary healthcare delivery in disaster and crisis prone areas.”

The MSF officer listed other interventions of the group to include reproductive health services, malaria control, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene services.