Tackling malnutrition in Cameroon’s Far North: Hawa’s story
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is piloting a cutting-edge strategy to combat soaring malnutrition in Cameroon’s far-north region, where many people have been displaced by Boko Haram attacks. The secret: tackling malnutrition before it even starts.
MALTAM, Cameroon — Iya Amina Aboua cradles her 23-month-old daughter in her arms, as she sits patiently on a mat for her turn to receive the monthly distribution of a special fortified flour. Thick vegetation and a few scattered houses surround the dirt clearing around her.
When Iya first arrived to this small northern town a year ago, daughter Hawa was skinny and listless, with reddish hair — classic signs of severe-acute malnutrition. But today, the toddler is full of life.
“I am always very happy during the distribution day because I know that these cereals will allow my daughter to be healthy,” Iya says of the flour known as CSB+.
A blend of corn and soya, CSB++ is packed with vitamins, iron and other micronutrients essential for young children. It is also a key part of WFP’s nutrition strategy in Cameroon’s Far North region that borders Chad and Nigeria — a region where conflict, hunger and disease have driven malnutrition rates to emergency levels in some places.
WFP’s initiative aims to prevent young children from tipping into that danger zone, rather than dealing with malnutrition’s devastating aftermath. Good nutrition is particularly essential during the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, so toddlers like Hawa can grow into healthy adults.
WFP’s programme falls in line with Cameroon’s broader malnutrition prevention strategy that today is considered a regional model. It includes regular screenings for young children and nutritional advice to mothers to avoid deficiencies in their child’s diet.
“The conflict on the other side of the border has increased malnutrition rates across the region,” says Grace Omondi, a nutrition officer for WFP in Cameroon. “However the situation is improving. We have noticed that Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates have dropped from 4 percent in January to 2.7 percent in March.”
Hunger and malnutrition were not always so acute here. A few kilometres away from the WFP distribution site in Maltam lies the town of Kousseri, once considered a pearl of Cameroon’s Far North. Trade with neighboring Chad fed thousands of households and ensured a certain prosperity.
But that changed as instability mounted — especially the Boko Haram insurgency that has left millions of people hungry and malnourished in the four-nation Lake Chad Basin region that includes Cameroon.
In early 2016, WFP launched its nutrition activities in the Kousseri region. Today, the agency supports 550 children aged from 6 to 23 months with CSB++. The children come from families displaced by the unrest, as well as host communities.
WFP’s support is helping Iya build a new life. She fled the nearby village of Dagué after an attack claimed by Boko Haram. She was kidnapped and held captive for 24 hours, before being released after an army intervention in the area.
“I feel good in Maltam, I will raise my children here,” she says. “I don’t see my future elsewhere.”
WFP has given hope to hundreds of children and their families. All around the distribution site, the smiles are mingled with thanks.
“Thanks to WFP, I’m not worried,” says one mother. “I know my son will grow up healthy.”
Find out more about WFP’s work in Cameroon.
