*As rate of wasting in Lagos tops global average

By Chioma Obinna

The Lagos State government has been urged to check the number of malnourished children in the state by urgently initiating treatment for over 200, 000 children in the state who are wasted and stunted.
Speaking to journalists during a 2-day Advocacy Meeting with Media on the First 1000 days of a Child and COVAX Uptake in Lagos State organised by the United Nations Child’s Fund, UNICEF, in collaboration with National Orientation Agency, (NOA), UNICEF’s Nutrition Specialist, Mrs Ada Ezeogu, also said that the 2021 survey showed that Lagos has more wasted children than the global average.
According to her, said though the percentage of wasting in Lagos is 6.4 per cent if translated into absolute numbers more than 200,000 children in Lagos are wasted and higher than the global target of less than five per cent.
Ezeogu said treatment was urgent to reduce the number of children with stunting in the state.
“In terms of percentage, the stunting rate in Lagos is lower at 17.2 compared to Oyo with 34.5 per cent but when converted to absolute numbers you will see a huge number than Oyo due to its large population.
 “Do we want this number to continue because we know that stunting does not just affect physical growth but also cognitive development? No, stunting, once the effect has set in, it is irreversible. That means when a child is stunted you cannot change that.”
“He would grow taller to a certain height but he can’t exceed it. He would grow eventually to a certain height but he can’t exceed it. Already that child is compromised both in terms of height, and physical cognitive development.
“So you do not get the best from that child. That child will not achieve their full potential in life. That has implications.
“There are implications for the onset of adult non-communicable diseases like diabetes. There is a tendency that people will still have that as they grow on later in life as a result of this stunting or malnourishment as a child.
“Stunting has an implication that goes beyond childhood even onto adulthood. So we want to prevent that. Once there’s malnutrition, the child easily falls ill; the immune system is also compromised because of that health cost increases because the child will be taken more often to the hospital and would be treated. “So there are health cost implications. That child may not be good as one fully nourished in school. There might be a repetition of class. All of that has an economic impact on the economy and the school system.
“If you have a child repeating or not paying attention, their attention span is reduced as a result of malnutrition then you have implications for education and the health system. Again, for wasting, if these children are not treated on time, we may lose them.”
She said treatment should be initiated immediately.
“Fortunately, Lagos is already doing some management of Severe Acute Malnutrition, SAM. They use Ready-Therapeutic-Food. If there are underlying conditions, they would be treated.
“We encourage mothers to take these children immediately to health facilities for treatment.  
I’m aware that Massey Children Street Hospital had a ward; I don’t know if it’s still there where they were treating children with severe acute malnutrition.”  
Acknowledging that Lagos was already doing something, Ezeogu called for increased screening to identify the children from the communities.
She also stressed the need to increase the number of health workers who have the skills to screen children so they can be referred.
The UNICEF specialist suggested the use of CHEWS programme in the communities for effective screening of the children. “The CHEWS could be trained to screen children so that we can get these children early enough to refer them to the hospitals.”