NGOer i Mali melder om en voldsom stigning i antallet af fejlernærende børn på sundhedsklinikkerne. Det skyldes delvist forældrenes voksende opmærksomhed på faresignalerne, og på muligheden for at opsøge en klinik. Men det skyldes også mere malaria og diarré som følge af regntiden.
7 October 2013 (OCHA) – Two-year old Korian Togola is lying in a bed at the health centre in Kati, in the Koulikoro region in Mali’s central west. A tube runs from her nose. This is how the doctors and medical staff are feeding her. Korian, like many children across Mali, is severely malnourished and her mother, Aissetou, brought her here four days ago for treatment.
“Before coming here, I tried to visit all kinds of traditional healers and caregivers to save my child,” says 21-year-old Aissetou, who has spent the past four days at her daughter’s bed side. “I have found hope again.”
The Kati clinic, like many others in Koulikoro, is run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an NGO. Since first arriving in Kati in April 2012, IRC staff have seen a dramatic increase in the number of severely malnourished children arriving at the clinic.
When they arrived, there were almost no children coming in. Between May and July 2012, 10-15 children were arriving for treatment each week. In December the admission average climbed to 35-40 children a week. Today, about 130 children are being seen by the doctors.
The reasons for this increase are two-fold: first, more children are becoming sick, and second, parents are becoming more aware of the clinics and of the warning signs of severe malnutrition – a positive development.
Awareness raising campaign
“(These) growing admissions can be explained by the increase of malaria and diarrhoea linked to the rainy season,” says Dr.Aminata Koné, who was recruited by IRC to manage the centre. “Bad weaning practices and poor diet are other reasons why children are malnourished.”
Malnutrition is endemic in Koulikoro and in much of Mali. This year, an estimated 660,000 children across the country are believed to be at risk of severe malnutrition. But one of the main impediments that the IRC and authorities faced was a lack of awareness within communities about malnutrition and its symptoms. In response to this, they launched an awareness-raising campaign across Koulikoro.
The success of the campaign means that the clinic is now running at above its intended capacity of 60 patients. “Currently, our services are in high demand and the team is overwhelmed,” says Dr. Koné. “But despite the difficulties, we have a 95 per cent success rate and a (fatality) rate of less than 5 per cent.”
Improving education
Support for families does not stop once a child recovers. With funding and support from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the European Union’s humanitarian branch (ECHO) mothers receive education about malnutrition prevention, including information on the dietary needs of their children, weaning techniques, malaria protection and hygiene promotion. They also receive food parcels to help their child’s continued recovery.
The humanitarian community in Mali has appealed for US$80 million in 2013 to tackle malnutrition across the country. To date, only about $26 million – less than a third of funds needed – have been received. Despite this, aid organizations have been able to treat almost 168,000 acutely malnourished children under the age of five.
