Borno State Government, has debunked report that 450 children died at 28 designated Internally Displaced Persons, IDP camps in the state due to malnutrition in 2015.
Emergency Management Agency, Dr. Sule Mele, was reportedly quoted as saying “450 children died from malnutrition in 28 IDP camps in the state in 2015”. But Commissioner of Health, Dr. Haruna Mshelia, on Tuesday, said contrary to the report, statistics showed that a total of 54,000 children between the ages of 5 and below were recorded in all the resettlement camps, in which, 98 children (1.5%) with severe cases of malnutrition died last year. He, however, admitted that from December to January 2015, 450 were recorded across the camps as result of malaria, Diarrhea, Pneumonia, Measles and of course malnutrition. Dr. Mshelia pointed out that all children under five years living at IDP camps were screened every 2-3 months for evidence of malnutrition, meaning a child could be screened up to 4 times in a year.