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STORY: NIGERIA / MALNUTRITION UMARA
TRT: 02:16
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / KANURI / NATS
DATELINE: 31 OCTOBER / 7 NOVEMBER / 17 NOVEMBER 2016, MUNA GARAGE IDP CAMP, MAIDUGURI, BORNO STATE, NIGERIA
31 OCTOBER 2016, MUNA GARAGE IDP CAMP, MAIDUGURI, BORNO STATE, NIGERIA
1. Med shot, 30-year-old Fanna Mohammed holds her 7 month old son, Umara who is suffering from severe acute malnutrition
2. Wide shot, Fanna walks through a UNICEF supported health clinic in IDP camp,
3. Med shot, Aishat Mohammed Abdullahi, UNICEF Nutrition Officer, assesses Umara for malnutrition by measuring circumference of his upper arm (MUAC)
4. Med shot, Aishat picks up and holds Umara as health volunteers (in blue) look on
5. Close up, scales showing weight of Umara
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Aishat Mohammed Abdullahi, UNICEF Nutrition Officer:
“The child was severely malnourished and dehydrated.”
7. Med shot, Aishat measuring circumference of Umara’s upper arm
8. Tilt up, Umara’s abdomen as Aishat reaches to pick him up
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Aishat Mohammed Abdullahi, UNICEF Nutrition Officer:
“When Umara was brought in here, Umara was looks very down, he doesn’t laugh, he doesn’t play, he looks, he does not look okay at all.”
10. Wide shot Aishat speaks to Fanna and gives her a RUFT
11. Med shot, Umara’s abdomen as he sits on Fanna’s lap as she holds a RUFT
12. Med shot, Umara’s eating the RUFT in Fanna’s arm
7 NOVEMBER 2016, MUNA GARAGE IDP CAMP, MAIDUGURI, BORNO STATE, NIGERIA
13. Wide shot, Aishat Abdullahi measuring Umara's MUAC whilst he sits in Fanna's lap
14. Med shot, Aishat Abdullahi measuring Umara's MUAC whilst he sits in Fanna's lap
15. Tilt up, measuring tape on Umara's arm
17 NOVEMBER 2016, MUNA GARAGE IDP CAMP, MAIDUGURI, BORNO STATE, NIGERIA
16. Wide shot, Aishat Abdullahi measuring Umara's MUAC whilst he sits in Fanna's lap
17. Close up, Aishat Abdullahi measuring Umara's MUAC whilst he sits in Fanna's lap
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Aishat Mohammed Abdullahi, UNICEF Nutrition Officer:
"When Umara came for the third visit Umara was looking okay, because he was playing, laughing, he does not have any problem.”
19. Wide shot, Umara in his mother's arms, being weighed on scales
20. Close up, measurement on scales, reading, 5.1KG
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Aishat Mohammed Abdullahi, UNICEF Nutrition Officer:
"When we measured his MUAC, his MUAC have increased and when we measured his weight his weight has also increased."
22. Wide shot, Aishat Mohammed Abdullahi, UNICEF Nutrition Officer enters Fanna and Umara's tent within the IDP camp
23. Med shot, Aishat Mohammed Abdullahi, UNICEF Nutrition Officer talks with Umara's mother Fanna within their tent inside the IDP camp
26. Close up, Umara eating RUTF
27. Close up, Fanna, Umara's mother, smiling and talking whilst looking down at Umara
28. SOUNDBITE (Kanuri) Fanna Mohammed, Mother:
"He is so much better! He is not sick, not vomiting, there is no diarrhea. He can play, he can do everything. And it makes me so happy!"
Umara's one of more than 117,000 children across northeast Nigeria that UNICEF's admitted to therapeutic feeding programmes. But there are still thousands more that need urgent help.
Fanna Mohammed is worried about her son. 7-month old Umara is thin and listless. He rests his head against his mother's shoulder as she carries him in her arms. It's impossible to get him to raise a smile.
The family fled their village in a rural area of Borno state earlier this year due to the ongoing Boko Haram-related crisis. Now they live in an IDP camp in the state capital, Maiduguri. Muna Garage IDP camp is home to an estimated 20,000 people. 8,000 of those are children under the age of 5.
Fanna says Umara's been ill for the past few weeks. He is physically showing signs of severe acute malnutrition. The bones on his chest and back are prominent; his skin is lose around his arms and legs.
Fanna's brought Umara to a UNICEF-supported medical clinic that's situated within the camp. A dozen or so other women are also there with their babies. They sit patiently on a long bench inside the tent, trying to keep their children entertained whilst they wait to be seen.
It's Umara's turn. UNICEF Nutrition Officer Aishat Mohammed Abdullahi measures the circumference of Umara's mid-upper arm (MUAC). It's 9cm - a healthy baby's measurement would be 12.5cm. Next Umara is weighed. He's just 4.2 kilograms.
"The child is severely malnourished and dehydrated," Abdullahi explains, "Umara looks very down, he doesn’t laugh, he doesn’t play, he does not look okay at all."
Umara is immediately given life-saving treatment. Abdullahi shows Fanna how to feed her son with a packet of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUFT). RUFT is a peanut-based paste that's high in calories and full of added vitamins and minerals. Three packets a day, for eight weeks can save the life of a child with severe acute malnutrition. Laying in his mother's arms, Umara slowly but surely eats the food. Before he's allowed home, the health team put him on a course of extra vitamin A, antibiotics and anti-malarial medicine.
UN's Office of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) estimates that 75,000 children in northeast Nigeria are at risk of dying of hunger "in the few months ahead".
A week later, Umara's back at the clinic for his second screening. There's a small, but steady improvement. His arm is plumper, at 9.7CM and he's put on a little weight. The scales read 4.3KG.
But it's at Umara's third screening that the improvement is more visible. He's put on yet more weight - he's 5.1kg - and his arm circumference is now 10cm. He's still classified as severely malnourished but the improvement, both physically and in terms of his general well-being, had made staff optimistic that he will make a full recovery is he continues on the feeding programme.
"When Umara came for the third visit, he was looking okay," Aishat says, smiling, "He was playing, laughing; he does not have any problem. When we measured his MUAC, his MUAC has increased and when we measured his weight his weight has also increased."
Fanna, Umara's mother Fanna, looks visibly relieved. For the first time since we met three weeks, she smiles as she holds a bright and engaged Umara in her arms.
"He can play, eat and drink now!" Fanna says, "He is not being sick anymore. He is so happy!"
