Malnutrition threatens Kenyan children

At the Kenyatta National Hospital in-patient children’s ward Grace Ouma from Huruma estate holds her son Elvis.

At nine months he weighs only 3.8 kilograms.

Elvis is severely malnourished and has Marasmus, in a pattern than is blighting thousands of Kenyan children — now across all classes — through eating foods empty of nutritional value.

At nine months, according to the nurse observing Elvis, his weight is equivalent to that of a healthy newborn baby.

His mom has been feeding him with porridge, milk and avocado.

In another section of the hospital, a mother Beatrice Anyango, watches her malnourished daughter Beryl , who at three years weighs 5.7 kilograms.

Like Elvis, her mother has been feeding her on porridge, potatoes and bananas.

The child has severe malnutrition and is now being fed in the hospital on vitamin supplemented milk and Resomal rehydration solution, given to children with vitamin and nutrient deficiencies.

The problem for both children is the porridge, which fills the stomach but is almost devoid of nutritional value, and is contributing to a Kenya-wide Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), which weakens the immune system in much the same way as AIDS, and stops the absorption of nutrients.

Across Africa, the WHO estimates VAD is now killing 600,000 children a year.

In Kenya, NGOs report the nation has one of the highest levels of VAD in the world, causing blindness, impaired immune systems, and, later, heart failure, kidney disease and cancer.

The World Health Organisation, World Bank, UNICEF and USAID all report the problem has now reached an all-time peak in Kenya, with 85 per cent of children in the country affected by VAD as a result of a departure from traditional foods that delivered the vitamin naturally.

The deficiency, which some studies suggest affects children’s abilities to digest any food, is now the leading cause of child blindness, skin conditions and weakened immunity, according to research by UNICEF and NGO Micro Nutrient Initiative.

Back at the outpatient wing at Kenyatta Hospital, one paediatrician clinical nurse says she personally handles at least four cases a day of children with VAD.

Other Nairobi hospitals, such as Mater, report that the majority of children admitted with serious illnesses arrive also suffering from VAD, which is usually the root cause.