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HomeUncategorizedPlateau Covid-19 Lockdown: Women, Children Risk Malnutrition - Dr. Chris Kwaja

Plateau Covid-19 Lockdown: Women, Children Risk Malnutrition – Dr. Chris Kwaja

 

Malnutrition
according to the World Health Organization is responsible for around
45% of global deaths among children under 5 years of age. The United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization also reports malnutrition as
the largest contributor to diseases in the world.

During pandemics,
low-income societies are more at risk. People tend to cope with the
resulting resulting socioeconomic lockdown, by changing the quantity,
quality and diversity of the food they consume.
A report by the
Pulsus Group, explains that hunger, the leading cause of malnutrition,
is closely related to poor health outcomes, including a higher risk of
depression and suicidal ideation in adolescents, and chronic conditions.
In addition, the report says nutrient deficiencies, such as iron
deficiency, are known to impair learning and cause decreased
productivity in school-age children, and maternal depressive disorders.
This
is why government response to the coronavirus pandemic must include
strategic welfare palliatives for all citizens, says Nigerian scholar,
Chris Kwaja.
“If there is no balance between the lockdown
(quarantine) and the livelihood of the people, a new form of crisis will
certainly emerge – hunger and malnutrition, which will be more visible
in children, women and people living with disabilities,” said Kwaja, a
Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Centre for Peace and Security
Studies, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, Adamawa State.
Such
“livelihood support”, when missing “provides sound basis for crimes and
other vices and can temper with the frail peace that’s on ground,”
Kwaja said in an interview.
Criminals, he added, will “always”
leverage on the plights of the poor to cause havoc. “They can go as far
as instigating the poor and use them as shields,” he said.
This is
why a “peace building approach” that holistically analyzes public
impact, in designing government policies and programmes, is necessary to
preserve peace, says Kwaja.
“There are four issues we are dealing
with here. Pandemics (health), governance, livelihood and Peace.
Government should adopt a Peace building approach to engaging the
citizens in order to ensure a wholesome support.
“The Peace building
approach is one in which what ever decision government is taking, the
utmost attention will be giving to how such a decision will affect the
citizens.
“Logistics for the security agents on duty is important.
Logistics for the medical personnel as first respondents is equally
important,” said Kwaja who is also Advisor in United States Institute
for Peace (USIP).
Nigeria currently faces high cases of terrorism in
the Northeast, armed banditry in Northwest, farner-herder conflicts in
North Central and militancy in the South-South region. There have also
been separatist movements in the Southeast and kidnapping in the
Southwest.
The conflicts have created millions of social and economic
displacements leading to high poverty in the country. The coronavirus
pandemic might yet cause another rise in the already deteriorating
economic standards in the country, unless careful, strategic and
decisive steps are taken.

SourceNews24

 

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