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Nigeria, 9 others lose 100,000 babies annually to conflicts

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6 years ago

April 9, 2019

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The Save the Children, an international non-governmental organisation, has said that Nigeria and nine other countries lost at least 550,000 between 2013 and 2017 due to armed conflicts.

The acting Country Director of the Save the Children in Nigeria, Wilfred Okanda, said this on Friday in Abuja at the formal launch of the ’Stop the War on Children’ campaign in Nigeria.

According to him, an average of over 100, 000 children die every year. The other affected countries are Afghanistan, Yemen, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Syria, Iraq, Mali, and Somalia.

He said Save the Children research worldwide shows that one in every five children lives in conflict affected places and Nigeria is one of the countries affected.

In a statement commemorating the 100 anniversary of the organisation, the CEO of Save the Children International, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, said infants succumbed to indirect effects of conflict and war such as hunger, damaged infrastructure and hospitals, lack of access to health care and sanitation, and the denial of aid.

He said, “They probably would not have died if they hadn’t been living in areas affected by conflict.”

He said the total deaths from indirect effects jump from 550,000 to 870,000 when all children under the age of five are included.