Urban Institute Health Policy Center, USA.
Center for Global Development, NW Washington, D.C., USA.
Matern Child Nutr. 2020 Jul;16(3):e12968. doi: 10.1111/mcn.12968. Epub 2020 Feb 11.
The new millennium brought renewed attention to improving the health of women and children. In this same period, direct deaths from conflicts have declined worldwide, but civilian deaths associated with conflicts have increased. Nigeria is among the most conflict-prone countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially recently with the Boko Haram insurgency in the north. This paper uses two data sources, the 2013 Demographic and Health Survey for Nigeria and the Social Conflict Analysis Database, linked by geocode, to study the effect of these conflicts on infant and young child acute malnutrition (or wasting). We show a strong association in 2013 between living close to a conflict zone and acute malnutrition in Nigerian children, with larger effects for rural children than urban children. This is related to the severity of the conflict, measured both in terms of the number of conflict deaths and the length of time the child was exposed to conflict. Undoubtedly, civil conflict is limiting the future prospects of Nigerian children and the country's economic growth. In Nigeria, conflicts in the north are expected to continue with sporadic attacks and continued damaged infrastructure. Thus, Nigerian children, innocent victims of the conflict, will continue to suffer the consequences documented in this study.
新千年时期，人们再次关注到改善妇女和儿童健康的问题。在同一时期，全球范围内因冲突而直接导致的死亡人数有所下降，但与冲突相关的平民死亡人数却有所增加。尼日利亚是撒哈拉以南非洲地区最容易发生冲突的国家之一，尤其是最近北部的博科圣地叛乱更是如此。本文使用了两个数据源，即 2013 年尼日利亚人口与健康调查和社会冲突分析数据库，并通过地理编码进行了关联，以研究这些冲突对婴幼儿急性营养不良（或消瘦）的影响。我们发现，2013 年，居住在冲突地区附近与尼日利亚儿童的急性营养不良之间存在很强的关联，农村儿童的影响比城市儿童更大。这与冲突的严重程度有关，既可以根据冲突死亡人数，也可以根据儿童接触冲突的时间长短来衡量。毫无疑问，内战正在限制尼日利亚儿童和国家经济增长的未来前景。在尼日利亚，预计北部的冲突将继续存在零星袭击和基础设施持续受损的情况。因此，无辜的冲突受害者——尼日利亚儿童，将继续遭受本研究记录的后果。
