Infant Feeding Practices in Africa: Challenges and Solutions

The Crisis of Child Welfare in Africa

Africa is considered one of the least developed regions in the world. Despite representing one of the richest parts of the globe in natural resources, it suffers from severe shortages of food, water, and basic living conditions. The international community is often either powerless or unwilling to intervene effectively in this continuous crisis. Although most of the population suffers from a lack of adequate resources, these shortcomings are most visible among the young — especially infants.

The situation of children on the African continent is considered one of the most troubling issues facing international aid agencies. The pressure surrounding the issue, compounded by economic distress and scarcity of natural resources such as water, limits the effectiveness of international organizations. The statistics are telling: "Aid agencies estimate that tens of thousands of children are in the advanced stages of starvation. Children are dying daily in the few feeding centers there are, where their place in the queue could make the difference between life and death" (Andersson, 2005). Although these estimates are not the most recent, conditions in the field have changed little over the years. This is largely because the starvation problem — along with the lack of food and supply — occurs in states without strong political systems. Sudan's Darfur region and Nigeria are among the relevant examples (Andersson, 2005).

To better understand the situation of children in Africa, it is useful to consider the 2005 drought in Niger and its effects on the country's children. That experience involved circumstances somewhat beyond state control; however, the events that followed highlighted the limited capacity of failed states to protect their citizens. As one correspondent reported, "Massive amounts of foreign aid have flowed into Niger since the world woke up to the crisis, but the food has not yet reached around a million people. It arrived too late and is still being distributed" (Andersson, 2005). Any failure to assist those in danger of starvation is therefore compounded by the state's inability to ensure the proper distribution of resources.

Moreover, some state policies actively work against child welfare. In Niger, for example, a policy encouraged by the Western world introduced privatized healthcare, so that it costs $14 (£8) for a mother to obtain a medical consultation for her baby — a sum almost no one in the country can afford (Andersson, 2005). The primary responsibility for feeding practices and resource distribution rests with the state, and where the state lacks the power and means to build a viable system, the results are minimal at best.

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