ABUTH records 600 cases of acute malnutrition in six months

Prof. Sani Mado, Consultant Pediatrician, Pediatrics Department, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) Zaria, has appealed to key stakeholders for improved actions against rising cases of wasting and stunting.

Prof. Sani Mado told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Zaria at the sidelines of 2024 Malnutrition Awareness Week that over the last six months, the department had recorded over 600 cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).

According to him, 55 percent of all the admitted cases at the pediatrics emergency unit of the hospital were undernutrition to severe acute malnutrition.

Mado said that the figures indicated that there were increasing cases of malnutrition among children below five years.

He said the Malnutrition Awareness Week has featured medical outreach and nutritional assessment for children less than five years at Mile-Goma in Giwa Local Government of the state.

Mado said, “Surprisingly, 18 percent of the children of the area were having severe wasting; this figure surpasses the national average.

“What is more worrisome was that 32 percent of the children were stunted, the national average of stunting is 28 percent and we recorded 32 percent in Mile-Goma.”

He, therefore, appealed for a more concerted effort by the key stakeholders in the sector towards reversing the negative indices.

The consultant appealed to the government to improve the economy of the general population.

This , he said, was to ensure that mothers and caregivers can give the right combination to their children to enable them to grow and develop well.

Similarly, Prof. Mohammed-Balarabe Aminu, Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, said the ABUTH’s management has established a malnutrition support steering committee.

According to him, this was part of the sustained efforts to tame the rising cases of malnutrition at the national and sub-national levels.

He added that the committee was also to look into the rising cases of patients that were coming up with the cases of clinical malnutrition at the hospital.

According to him, the committee was charged with the responsibility of evaluating patients with clinical malnutrition in conjunction with managing physicians and nurses.

Aminu said, “The committee has designed a protocol for managing their malnutrition in line with the disease that brought them to the hospital.’’

He said that the hospital would soon incorporate other staffers of the hospital that were concerned with managing malnutrition into various subcommittees of the malnutrition support committee to enhance service delivery.

Aminu vowed, “Henceforth, patients that come into the hospital with any sign of malnutrition will receive attention regardless of the ailment that was brought into the hospital.”

He said that the week was commemorated by the committee with support from the West African Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (WESPEN).

NAN reports that the week, which was observed from Sept. 16 to Sept. 20, had featured advocacy and sensitization campaigns at within and outside the hospital, medical outreach and a conference.