13 Sep 2012

NIGER / CHILD MORTALITY

Sub-Saharan Africa carries the highest burden of child mortality, and children from poor rural areas are much more likely to die before their fifth birthday than those in urban areas. Despite the challenges, Niger has seen a sixty percent decline in under-five mortality since 1990. UNICEF

Posted at: September 13, 2012 11:58 am

Duration: 02:48

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STORY: NIGER / CHILD MORTALITY 
TRT: 2.48
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE 
LANGUAGE: HAUSA / FRENCH / NATS
 
DATELINE: 6-10 JUNE 2012, MARADI REGION, NIGER

SHOTLIST:
 
6 JUNE 2012, AGUIE DISTRICT HOSPITAL, MARADI REGION, NIGER

1. Close up, sick baby
2. Tilt down, worried mother to baby
3. Wide shot, mother and baby
4. Med shot, nurse working over sick baby
5. Wide shot, mother and sick baby
6. Close up, sick girl
7. Med shot, mothers and baby lying on cot
8. Close up, crying baby
9. Close up, mother comforting baby
10. SOUNDBITE (Hausa) Zainabou Abdou, Mother:
"Locusts destroyed our crops last year and we had no money to buy food. There was nothing to eat and I had no more breast milk for my daughter."
11. Med shot - mother feeds baby with Close up

8 JUNE 2012, MARADI REGION, NIGER

12. Med shot, oxen ploughing field
13. Wide shot, man working in field
14. Wide shot, children outside village

6 JUNE 2012, AGUIE DISTRICT HOSPITAL, MARADI REGION, NIGER

15. Wide shot, intravenous drip to wide hospital ward
16. Close up, sick baby
17. Wide shot, mother and sick baby
18. Close up, sleeping baby
19. Wide shot, women lining up for food distribution
20. Med shot, women on line for food
21. SOUNDBITE (French) Amadou Mohamed Nassirou, Health Worker:
"When children arrive here they are already in a critical state, in very serious condition with a lot of complications."
22. Med shot, sick child being weighed
23. Close up, health worker reads scale
24. Close up, health worker measuring child's arm
25. Med shot, health worker writing
26. Close up, child being weighed
27. Med shot, health worker preparing milk powder
28. Close up, health worker reaching into box of milk powder
29. Close up, packets of milk powder
30. Wide shot, health worker walking with powder
31. Med shot, health worker distributing Plumpy Nut
32. Close up, Plumpy Nut package being opened
33. Close up, mother feeding Plumpy Nut to child
34. Med shot, mother listening to lesson
35. Tilt up, poster to community educator
36. Wide shot, mothers listening to community educator
37. SOUNDBITE (Hausa) Zainabou Abdou, Mother:
"We've learnt about the importance of breastfeeding and making other important foods for children like beans and peanut butter, enriched porridge and other foods."
38. Wide shot, health worker preparing to give drops
39. Close up, health worker giving drops
40. Close up, health worker filling out discharge form
41. Med shot, health worker discharging mother and child
42. SOUNDBITE (French) Amadou Mohamed Nassirou, Health Worker:
"The importance of these efforts is to reduce child mortality in Niger. If you look at the mortality figures here, you'll see they total to no more than five percent."
43. Wide shot, mother and child sitting
44. Close up, smiling happy child
45. Wide shot, mother leaving health center
46. Wide shot, other mothers waving
47. Wide shot, mother walking off

10 JUNE 2012, MALANKAOUA VILLAGE, MARADI REGION, NIGER

48. Wide shot, mother walking along road in arid landscape
49. Close up, mother's feet walking
50. Med shot, mother arriving at village
51. Close up, happy family clapping
52. Med shot, grandmother taking baby

STORYLINE:
 
It's a mother's worst nightmare watching her child fight for life. But around the world almost nineteen thousand children under five still die every day from largely preventable diseases.

Twelve-month-old Bassariya was rushed to this district hospital suffering from severe malnutrition.

SOUNDBITE (Hausa) Zainabou Abdou, Mother:
"Locusts destroyed our crops last year and we had no money to buy food. There was nothing to eat and I had no more breast milk for my daughter. All I could do was cry."

Most of Niger's population are poor farmers who grow their own food, making children here some of the most vulnerable.

While most of the world has made strong inroads into tackling some of the major killers of children, sub-Saharan Africa carries the highest burden of child mortality. And children from poor rural areas are much more likely to die before their fifth birthday than those in urban areas.

In Niger's case the situation has been made even worse by the food crisis gripping the whole Sahel region.

SOUNDBITE (French) Amadou Mohamed Nassirou, Health Worker:
"When children arrive here they are already in a critical state, in very serious condition with a lot of complications."

Globally, more than a third of child deaths are attributable to malnutrition.

For Bassariya, in addition to being malnourished, she was also suffering from malaria - an easily preventable disease that killed half a million children in 2011, nearly all in sub-Saharan Africa.

But thanks to the coordinated efforts of Niger's ministry of public health, UNICEF and other NGO partners, more and more children's lives are being saved.

Bassariya has responded well to almost a month of treatment, receiving therapeutic foods like Plumpy Nut and fortified milk powder.

Her mother Zainabou has also received education on how to prevent malnutrition and other child killers.

SOUNDBITE (Hausa) Zainabou Abdou, Mother:
"We've learnt about the importance of breastfeeding and making other important foods for children like beans and peanut butter, enriched porridge and other foods."

And after being given vitamin drops and iron supplements, she is ready to be discharged.

SOUNDBITE (French) Amadou Mohamed Nassirou, Health Worker:
"The importance of these efforts is to reduce child mortality in Niger. If you look at the mortality figures here, you'll see they total to no more than five percent."

And the efforts are paying off. Despite all the challenges Niger has seen a sixty percent decline in under-five mortality since 1990, and today ranks as one of the top twenty best performing countries in reducing child deaths.

After a four-hour walk under a hot sun, mother and child finally reach home, to a heartfelt welcome.

Their story reminds us that all children, no matter where and to whom they are born, have a right to survive and thrive.