Feeding centers provide critical lifeline for children in Chad
Alma Zulfiqar, UNICEF
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Salma Zulfiqar reports on food shortages that are leading to increased malnutrition among children in western Chad.
MAO, Chad (March 29, 2010) — Adam is just over a year old, but he can barely move, let alone stand up and walk. He and a dozen other emaciated children lie on mattresses at a feeding center in Mao, western Chad, with their mothers and grandmothers watching over them helplessly.
"We didn't have much food when I was pregnant. I was eating boule [millet-based paste] once or twice a day during my pregnancy," says Hawa, Adam's mother.
"I got very sick and weak after the birth. I could not breastfeed him properly," she adds.
Hawa receives therapeutic milk at the UNICEF-supported center so that she can feed Adam every three hours. A few days later, Adam has been brought back to life. He is alert and able to move his tiny hands.
Therapeutic feeding: A critical lifeline
© UNICEF video
Mothers hold their children outside a therapeutic feeding center in Mao, capital of a region in western Chad where some 2 million people are in need of food aid.
Malnutrition rates are increasing in western Chad's Kanem Region, where Mao is located, as the region is gripped by severe food shortages due to a lack of rain. The situation is exacerbated by local communities' very limited access to basic health care and safe drinking water.
"Without the therapeutic feeding center here, there would be a lot more deaths and an even bigger catastrophe," says Chief District Medical Officer Dr. Mekonyo Kolmain Gedeon. "We can see the change in health with children admitted. After only a few weeks they are able to go home.
"These feeding centers are a critical lifeline for children living in this region. We need more of these centers in order to save more lives," he adds.
In 2009, around 8,000 children were treated at 32 feeding centers in the Kanem region. The centers were established by the Chadian Ministry of Health and receive support from UNICEF to provide therapeutic food and medical treatment.
"At the moment, we have 2,800 children benefitting from the program," says UNICEF Representative in Chad Marzio Babille. "While severe acute malnutrition is an emergency, a rapid response with appropriate medical care and technology can save lives."
Severe drought conditions
© UNICEF video
A UNICEF-supported program provides medical treatment and therapeutic food to over under-nourished children in western Chad.
Changing weather patterns here have led to severe droughts, crippling local agriculture and causing chronic food shortages.
The harvest in 2009 was a disaster. Production of sorghum and millet, the main staple food crops, declined by an estimated 22 percent and 34per cent, respectively, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Some two million people are now in need of food aid in Chad, most of them in the western region. The World Food Programme and FAO have responded to the immediate needs and are planning to distribute additional aid.
"We used to have plenty of food here, but we don't get as much rain anymore and there is more and more sand everywhere," said Adam's grandmother. Mao and the surrounding area used to be home to a huge pastoral and farming community, but a shortage of viable land to grow crops has had a crippling effect.
Effects of desertification
© UNICEF video
A child drinks therapeutic milk at the feeding center in Mao, western Chad.
The lack of vegetation is also killing cattle. Around 31 percent of the herd in the region perished in 2009, according to FAO, and there are concerns that the number of deaths will increase this year.
With little local produce on the market, most food is transported from other parts of the country, leading to huge price increases. As a result, many parents are unable to feed their children.
Tackling malnutrition at an early stage is key here. In the village of Barrah, 12.4 miles from the center of Mao, a UNICEF-supported clinic provides monitoring and treatment for severely malnourished children.
Zara Hassan visits every week with her two-year-old to receive supplies of Plumpy'nut, a high-protein peanut paste fortified with vitamins and minerals. The child is six pounds underweight, but nurses say she is slowly gaining.
Meanwhile, Zara and her family struggle to feed themselves after losing all their crops to desertification. "All of this land used to be full of millet," she says, pointing to the land surrounding her hut. "Now all of our food has turned to dust."
