Over 500 Malnutrition Cases Recorded in Yaounde Hospital

Whitney Minang, a two-month old baby boy, weighs 2.2 kg. He is weak and can hardly eat. He was admitted at the Nutrition Therapeutic Reference Centre in the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital (HGOPY) and diagnosed with severe malnutrition.

He has been hospitalised for the past one week. The only way he can be fed is through nasogastric pipes. His mother, Brigitte Nicaise Minang, 18, says when she noticed that her child had diarrhoea and was weak, she took him to the Hospital in Nanga Eboko from where the child was referred to the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital.

Dr. Olga Cathy Messina, UNICEF's Focal Point at the HGOPY, said Whitney weighed 2.3 kg when he was born. When he was admitted in the hospital, he weighed 2.2 kg but after one week of treatment his condition improved. The Nutrition Therapeutic Reference Centre is in charge of strengthening the systems of malnourished children and help them regain their weight.

Dr. Messina said the objective of the centre is to help re-establish breastfeeding through feeding techniques notably the Supplementary Suckling Technique (TSS). The treatment lasts two days and when the child is able to take breast milk, he is kept in the hospital for three more days before he is discharged.

The Nutrition Therapeutic Reference Centre of the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital was created in 2007. Statistics from the centre reveal that from 2007 to 2012, 562 cases of severe cases of malnutrition with complications have been admitted in the centre. According to the statistics, 34 cases (about 53 per cent) of severe malnutrition cases with complications were admitted in 2007.

The figures increased in 2011 when 115 cases of children above six months with severe malnutrition with complications were admitted. For those below six months, nine similar cases were admitted. Globally, a total of 64 cases of severe malnutrition with complications were admitted in 2007, 129 in 2011 and 136 in 2012. This, according to Dr Messina, shows that there is an increase in severe malnutrition with complications.

The centre started with six beds but with the increasing number of cases of severe malnutrition with complications, the hospital management thought it wise to create a Therapeutic Nutrition Centre for Excellence with a capacity of 24 beds and other facilities, which will enable the handling of more affected children.

Concerning the treatment of severe malnutrition in patients, UNICEF has put in place training of hospital staff in the preparation of the therapeutic milk (ATPE) and systematic drugs for the treatment of children with severe malnutrition. UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health have also organised workshops to train medical staff in the Centre Region on the treatment of malnutrition.