Children risk malnutrition in undersupplied camps
Cyclone Freddy impacts on child nutrition
Alefa Minguwa raises a three-year-old boy single handedly.
The 24-year-old mother held Gracious close to her chest during the meeting at Naotcha Primary School in Blantyre City, southern Malawi.
“He is everything to me, my only child. I will do anything to protect his well-being,” she states.
Alefa is among 2,200 people camping at the school following mudslides and flashfloods caused by Cyclone Freddy that ripped their homes in Soche Mountain.
She is worried about the child’s health and nutrition since they fled the devastating mudslide, which wrecked their MWK 12,000-a-month house along Namwiri stream in the mountainside setting.
She laments: “We took refuge here a week ago when our house collapsed around 3 am, but there isn’t enough nutritious food for the children.
“Gracious is losing weight because we only get two meals a day—breakfast close to noon, lunch around 4 pm. There is no supper, no fruits and vegetables even for children.”
Murmurs of possible malnutrition are rising among pregnant women, lactating mothers and health workers who conduct nutrition checkups for displaced children aged below five.
“A week before fleeing home, I took Gracious to Zingwangwa Health Centre because he was frail and purging, but a nurse tipped me that he was malnourished. He has lost weight and looks weaker. More children will suffer malnutrition unless we get urgent food aid, including nutritious porridge,” she narrates.
Alefa and Gracious sleep in a dusty classroom crammed with about 120 women displaced from the neighbouring mountain and Chilobwe Township by Cyclone Freddy.
The unsanitary conditions, coupled with overwhelmed latrines that release a foul smell, increase the risk of sanitation-related diseases that fuel malnutrition in children.
Blantyre is the worst hit hotspot in the outbreak dating back to March 2022, two months after Cyclone Ana affected one million people and ripped sanitation facilities in southern Malawi.
“At the Health Centre, the nurse said Gracious requires a sanitary environment and a diverse diet to beat malnutrition. All that is not possible in this congested camp because sanitation is low and even vegetables and fruits are not available,” she says.
Currently, the health center is providing ready-to-use therapeutic supplied by UNICEF which help the swift recovery.
Like many mothers from the worst-hit Khalika and Nkanamwano locations in Chilobwe, Alefa sporadically sneaks out of the camp to do piecework in the vicinity, but hardly earns enough to buy the desired nutritious food for the child.
“My life has come to a standstill,” she says. “I run a home-based salon, but my clients are also hit hard. They have to choose between buying food and going to a hairdresser like me,” she states.
Alefa appeals for urgent assistance for affected communities, including nutritious food for children.
According to the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, the country’s third cyclone this year has displaced about 491 000 people in Malawi, with 476 confirmed dead, 918 injured and 349 missing by Sunday.
Lusungu Gondwe says the tropical cyclone is the worst disaster since she became a health surveillance assistant nearly two decades ago.
When she arrives at Naotcha camp around 7.30 am, she makes rounds in the congested classrooms, giving the displaced community sanitation and hygiene tips to reduce disease outbreaks amid the year-old cholera wave.
She also gives children like Gracious routine immunisation and nutrition screening, measuring body weight and mid-upper arm circumference to determine if a child is malnourished.
“About 500 children aged under five here require nutritious meals, including soya porridge to safeguard children from malnutrition,” she explains.
Naotcha primary school plays home to 223 boys and 220 girls under five, reports the camp’s data manager Tracy Bakali.
“We classify the displaced population according to their age and their special needs because it helps us figure out what they need and how we can help them. Clearly, the children are at risk of malnutrition because they eat too little too late. They are being treated the same as adults because of desperation. We need urgent food aid to better meet their unique needs,” she says.
Headteacher Lawrence Msaleni, leader of the camp, says children require specially fortified food supplements even though the camp is somewhat adequately supplied by DoDMA and other well-wishers.
“So far, we have received maize flour, beans, sun-dried fish and blankets from government agencies, private companies and other partners. This has greatly reduced the hardship of the displaced people, but we need to do more to safeguard children,” he says.
A water bowser keeps the camps supplied with safe water, but the sanitation situation is deteriorating due to overcrowding.
“Before this disaster, the school did not have enough toilets for our 4 510 learners. With 22 pit latrines, we needed 20 more to steer clear of sanitation-related diseases, which affect children’s health.”
UNICEF is supporting the Government of Malawi to assess the damage and respond to children’s needs, especially nutrition, education, protection, health and WASH.
It prepositioned nutrition and WASH supplies in all districts in the eye of the storm, including 149 buckets, 50 plastic tarpaulins and health education kits for the Shire Valley’s devastated districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje.
