Personal Insights & Thoughts: Kwashiorkor Kids

Kwashiorkor Kids: Nigeria’s Struggle to Combat Famine in the Face of Boko Haram

(Based on personal research - Nadia)

Nearly 4.5 million people in Northeast Nigeria, already threatened by Boko Haram, are now at risk of food insecurity and famine (Saraki). It is imperative to act now before the crisis worsens and to address the long term implications of the issue by ensuring a proper health care infrastructure is established and supports preventative measures. This is in line with our goal of aiding the independent and sustainable development of African nations ("Vision"). Potential policy options include funding the Nigerian government directly or funding awareness initiatives. The best course of action would involve supporting awareness initiatives and taking an active role in remedying infrastructural issues in the current handling of the crisis.

Background:

Malnutrition has been a longstanding issue in Nigeria since the 1960s and has been exacerbated by the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in 1986, which has resulted in a serious decrease in income and an unprecedented increase in food prices (Igbedioh). While Nigeria is desperately in need of a comprehensive policy framework to address a rapidly worsening issue, it currently spends considerably less on social protection than other Sub-Saharan countries, two-thirds allocated to civil service (Wood and Deepta). Furthermore, with Boko Haram terrorizing the Northeastern region of the country, population displacement, disruption in livelihoods, and acute food insecurity have only been on the rise (“UN Daily News”). The conflict has also left many farmers unable to tend to their crops, meaning famine is a definite possibility in the near future (Akinwotu). Part of the issue is the lack of information available to parents who are in the dark about appropriate feeding practices and the varieties of food essential to child development (Ogundipe).

Analysis:

As Nigeria's leadership has traditionally not been especially answerable to its constituents, it does not have significant incentive to address issues like social protection (Mesquita). Perhaps more concerningly, according to the theory of Omnibalancing, “since the dominant goal of the Third World leaders is to stay in power, they will sometimes protect themselves at the expense of the interests of the state” (David). However, even if a purely humanitarian appeal does not carry much weight, African countries face an average GDP reduction of eight percent and Nigeria a 1.5 billion USD loss each year due to malnutrition.

Option 1: Fund Nigerian government directly

Nigeria has already implemented programs such as the 2001 National Policy on Food and Nutrition, the 2004 Plan of Action, and the 2005 National Policy on Infant and Young Child Feeding (Wood and Deepta). However, these programs have either been minimally or poorly implemented due to a shortage of the well-trained officials and institutional capacity necessary to properly execute them. Furthermore, a clear lack of political interest in the issue is evident and reflected by the decrease in spending from the years 2007 to 2009 despite an increased need for these programs due to rising food prices (Wood and Deepta). The sad reality is oftentimes that “many countries in Africa have adequate foreign aid and adequate policy initiatives but the process falls apart once implementation begins” (Saraki).

Option 2: Fund awareness initiatives

Ensuring a child receives proper nutrition during the first 1,000 days of life is critical in helping it avoid malnutrition and associated illness (Ogundipe). Thus far, interventions involving food fortification and breastfeeding promotion for mothers have proven to be very effective in remedying the multi-generational battle with malnutrition (Tejuoso). However, it is important to note that the current conflict with Boko Haram would remain unaddressed in this scenario despite the fact that children currently account for approximately 50 percent of the internally displaced persons in need of humanitarian assistance (Saraki).

Recommendation:

Despite being more involved, Option 2 represents our best chance to carry out long term and sustainable social protection objectives in Nigeria. Direct government funding would greatly assist in minimizing the threat Boko Haram poses in terms of worsening malnutrition but is simply not worth the investment. It is very unlikely that increased funding will assist in what is clearly more of an infrastructural issue that is closely tied to insufficient government efforts. Furthermore, since the current leader’s reelection prospects are not contingent on the say of the “nominal selectorate” which in this case consists of the population affected by the crisis, funding-based intervention alone will not bring about concrete change (Mesquita).

Works Cited

Akinwotu, Emmanuel. "Famine Threatens Lives of Nearly Half a Million Nigerian Children, Says Unicef." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 22 Feb. 2017. Web. 19 July 2017.

David, Steven R. "Explaining Third World Alignment." World Politics 43.2 (1991): 233-56. JSTOR. Web. 19 July 2017.

Igbedioh, S. O. "Undernutrition in Nigeria: Dimension, Causes and Remedies for Alleviation in a Changing Socio-economic Environment." US National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health, n.d. Web. 19 July 2017.

Malnutrition: Nigeria's Silent Crisis. N.p.: Population Reference Bureau, n.d. PDF.

Mesquita, Bruce Bueno De, and Alastair Smith. The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics. New York: PublicAffairs, 2012. Print.

Ogundipe, Solo. "Will Malnutrition Be Permanent in Nigeria?" Vanguard News. Vanguard Media Limited, 05 July 2016. Web. 19 July 2017.

"Prevention Is Key to Reducing Child Malnutrition in Northern Nigeria." UNICEF Nigeria. UNICEF, 3 Mar. 2016. Web. 19 July 2017.

Saraki, Toyin. "Nigeria's Fight against Ill-health and Malnutrition." Al Jazeera English. Al Jazeera, 07 Sept. 2016. Web. 19 July 2017.

Tejuoso, Lanre. "Investing in Nutrition Is an Economic Necessity in Nigeria." News.trust.org. Thomson Reuters Foundation, 9 Feb. 2017. Web. 19 July 2017.

UN Daily News. New York: UN News Service, 23 Aug. 2016. PDF.

"Vision." African Union. African Union, n.d. Web. 19 July 2017.

Wood, Rachel Godfrey, and Deepta Chopra. A Need for Political Will and Resources. N.p.: Save the Children, 2012. PDF.