How Fever Kills our Children in Nigeria

Yes please, you read it correctly, fever. But does fever kill? Can it really cause death? Of course it can, particularly among children less than 5years. Nigeria has retained her unenviable record as one of the countries with the highest cases of childhood death globally. I used to think the figures were being inflated. However, from my experience as a physician and public health practitioner, I feel the magnitude is likely underestimated; no thanks to our poor data management system.   

Is fever a disease, of course not, it is actually a common symptom of many childhood killer diseases in Nigeria. Fever is defined as body temperature of more than 37.4 degrees Celsius. The common childhood killer diseases that present with fever in Nigeria include malaria, pneumonia, measles, HIV/AIDS, otitis media, meningitis, tuberculosis and urinary tract infections. All the conditions listed are preventable and curable or treatable. So when a child has fever in Nigeria, it is usually due to at least one of the listed diseases. If appropriate medical care is not provided in good time, the health situation may deteriorate and cause serious complications or even lead to death. Besides the danger posed by the progression of the disease pathology, the progression of the fever can also lead to convulsions; this is known as Febrile Seizure/Convulsion.

Febrile seizures occur in children aged between 3months and 5years of age. It is triggered by high body temperature in a sick child. It can lead to permanent disabilities or death. Sometimes the body temperature can be very high and may not be detected by palpation; the most objective way is by measuring it with a clinical thermometer. Every family with children less than 5years should have the thermometer at home. The right action to take when one suspects that a child has fever should be to expose the body; if the temperature is above 38 degrees Celsius, immerse a clean piece of cloth in cold clean warm-to-cold water and use it to tepid-sponge the child and take him or her to a health facility for appropriate care as urgently as possible. Delay can be very dangerous. Self medication is very risky especially in children and strongly discouraged. The use of herbal concoctions is also very dangerous and can lead to kidney or liver failure as those organs are too young to metabolize the contents of the concoctions.

Furthermore, we as a people must have to make deliberate efforts to save our children and ourselves from the nightmare caused by the above highly preventable and treatable health conditions. The burden of disease and mortality has remained too high for a long time despite the efforts being made to solve the problem. It is either we are not doing enough or we are not getting it right. It is inexcusable and totally unacceptable for Nigeria to be losing up to a million children annually to childhood killer diseases. According to World Malaria Reports 2011, out of every 4 children with malaria in the world, one is a Nigerian. About 300,000 Nigerian kids die from malaria every year and the financial cost to the country is estimated to be N132 billion annually. On the other hand, pneumonia is also causing havoc and ranks second to malaria as the killer-in-chief of Nigerian children. Studies show that at least 17 children die every hour in Nigeria from pneumonia. Diarrhea may or may not present with fever but is also a major childhood killer disease.

The good news is that many countries have defeated these ailments. Countries like United States had similar experience in the 19^th and 20^th centuries but took measures to make it history. Nigeria can do same and everyone’s effort is needed to make it happen. The main focus should be on primary prevention. It is the duty of government to enact and enforce policies that will create an environment that will make the incidence of the killer diseases negligible. It is also the duty of the Nigerian people to abide by the regulations. Good personal hygiene is key. Childhood immunization and utilization of antenatal services by pregnant women is strongly recommended. On her own part, government at all levels must demonstrate strong political will and strengthen the health system particularly the primary health care. Nigeria is almost always among the top five countries in every poor health index, a comeuppance of chronic systemic corruption and poor governance. All hands must be on deck to reverse the situation and without further delay. Let our children live. Have a splendid and disease-free new year.

Follow me on twitter - @donlaz4u