Afran : BURKINA FASO: Hunger stings worse in the city
on 2009/8/26 10:26:23
Afran

Click to see original Image in a new window

Photo: Phuong Tran/ IRIN
Baby treated for malnutrition at Ouahigouya regional hospital in northwestern Burkina Faso

OUAHIGOUYA, 25 August 2009 (IRIN) - A growing number of urban families in northwestern Burkina Faso refuse to hospitalize their children diagnosed as severely malnourished because they fear being stigmatized, according to hospital officials in a regional nutrition recovery centre.

Ouahigouya regional hospital takes on the most complicated cases of malnutrition from throughout the region. The director of its nutrition centre, Etienne Zida, told IRIN city children slip through the malnutrition diagnostic system.

“We will diagnose a child as severely malnourished in need of hospitalization. If that family is from here [Ouahigouya], we are likely not to see them again,” said Zida. “Mostly from intellectual families, they feel shame and failure if their child is hospitalized because of malnutrition rather than malaria. So they simply do not do it.”

The nutrition centre director said the impact of the stigma is likely masking what he sees as a growing problem of urban hunger. “Of the [urban] children we are able to treat for malnutrition, there are others we are not reaching.”

Zida said cases of malnourished urban patients in the paediatric ward decreased after NGOs boosted nutrition services in the city about six years ago; the new services reduced the number of urban patients who sought care. But, even given the chilling effect of stigma, he said, during the first half of 2009 twice as many children from Ouahigouya city were in the nutrition recovery centre than from surrounding villages, 24 as compared to 11 rural children.

The director said the higher number of city children in the regional hospital’s nutrition ward is due in part to villagers’ increased ability to seek care for non-complicated malnutrition closer to their homes. But he said the imbalance is also due to growing malnutrition in cities.

Perception

The director of nutrition services at Burkina Faso’s Health Ministry, Sylvestre Tapsoba, told IRIN malnutrition in cities has always existed and is not significantly changing. “There may be the perception it is getting worse because the health ministry has strengthened the treatment of malnutrition in rural areas, which has led to a reduction of rural referrals in regional health centres.”

He said rural-to-urban migration plus the health and hygiene conditions of crowded urban life have long contributed to urban malnutrition. “Malnutrition in cities is not surprising nor is it a reversal of earlier trends.”

The rate of global acute malnutrition – when under-five children do not meet international height or weight standards – in both urban and rural areas in Burkina Faso is 12 percent, according to the most recent government survey, which is still undergoing verification.

Slightly more urban families reported in the same survey eating only one meal per day – 7 percent versus 5.7 percent in rural areas.

irinnews

Previous article - Next article Printer Friendly Page Send this Story to a Friend Create a PDF from the article


Other articles
2023/7/22 15:36:35 - Uncertainty looms as negotiations on the US-Kenya trade agreement proceeds without a timetable
2023/7/22 13:48:23 - 40 More Countries Want to Join BRICS, Says South Africa
2023/7/18 13:25:04 - South Africa’s Putin problem just got a lot more messy
2023/7/18 13:17:58 - Too Much Noise Over Russia’s Influence In Africa – OpEd
2023/7/18 11:15:08 - Lagos now most expensive state in Nigeria
2023/7/18 10:43:40 - Nigeria Customs Intercepts Arms, Ammunition From US
2023/7/17 16:07:56 - Minister Eli Cohen: Nairobi visit has regional and strategic importance
2023/7/17 16:01:56 - Ruto Outlines Roadmap for Africa to Rival First World Countries
2023/7/17 15:47:30 - African heads of state arrive in Kenya for key meeting
2023/7/12 15:51:54 - Kenya, Iran sign five MoUs as Ruto rolls out red carpet for Raisi
2023/7/12 15:46:35 - Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Gupta Travels to Kenya and Rwanda
2023/7/2 14:57:52 - We Will Protect Water Catchments
2023/7/2 14:53:49 - Kenya records slight improvement in global peace ranking
2023/7/2 13:33:37 - South Sudan, South Africa forge joint efforts for peace in Sudan
2023/7/2 12:08:02 - Tinubu Ready To Assume Leadership Role In Africa
2023/7/2 10:50:34 - CDP ranks Nigeria, others low in zero-emission race
2023/6/19 15:30:00 - South Africa's Ramaphosa tells Putin Ukraine war must end
2023/6/17 15:30:20 - World Bank approves Sh45bn for Kenya Urban Programme
2023/6/17 15:25:47 - Sudan's military govt rejects Kenyan President Ruto as chief peace negotiatorThe Sudanese military government of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has rejected Kenyan President William Ruto's leadership of the "Troika on Sudan."
2023/6/17 15:21:15 - Kenya Sells Record 2.2m Tonnes of Carbon Credits to Saudi Firms

The comments are owned by the author. We aren't responsible for their content.