The menace of abuse and neglect of Nigerian children: the need for collective action by stakeholders: a case series

Nigerian children, like many others in developing countries, are frequently abused both intentionally and unintentionally, resulting in sustenance of various injuries and sometimes death. This is a case series of three children who suffered various injuries as a result of child abuse. The first is the report of a three-year-old child who was physically and emotionally abused and neglected by her teenage mother, while the second is that of another three-year-old child who had chemical injury to the eyes inflicted by her parents while providing home remedy for convulsions, resulting in bilateral corneal ulcerations with visual impairment. The third report is of a neonate who had burns injury inflicted by a healthcare worker at a maternity home because she failed to cry at birth. These cases are being reported to bring to the forefront the continued presence of child abuse in the community in various guises and to call for individual and collective actions by all stakeholders, including parents/caregivers, health care workers, governmental and non-governmental agencies, to rise up in defense of these children so as to ensure good quality of life for Nigerian children.Keywords: Child abuse, intentional, unintentiona

Effect of malnutrition on diarrhoeal disease in Nigerian children

Background: Good nutrition plays an important role in the prevention of diseases in children. Childhood diarrhoea is commonly associated with under nutrition such that the frequency and severity of diarrhoea are increased with greater severity of under nutrition. Objectives: The study was carried out to assess the nutritional status of children with diarrhoea, and to determine the impact of malnutrition on diarrhoeal characteristics. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional comparative study which involved under-five children with diarrhoea and controls. Socio-demographic details, diarrhoeal characteristics and nutritional parameters, including weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height, were assessed in the children. Results: Twenty-five (14.7%) of the diarrhoea patients were underweight, 31 (18.2%) stunted, 29 (17.1%) wasted and6 (3.5%) overweight. Wasting and underweight were significantly more prevalent among the children with diarrhoea, compared with the controls (p <0.001 and p = 0.007, respectively). A significantly higher proportion of children who had signs of dehydration were underweight (p <0.001) and wasted (p <0.001). Wasting was also more prevalent among children with higher stool frequency (p = 0.007). Conclusion: Wasting serves as a risk factor for childhood diarrhoea, and also predisposes children to severe episodes of diarrhoea, whereas overweight status offers no protection against diarrhoea. Keywords: Malnutrition, Diarrhoea, Children, Nigeri