Children living in conflict zones end up with lasting brain trauma so says an official of UNICEF, Pia Britto. The latter who is the Chief of Early Education, United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) posits that a child is born with about 253 million functioning neurons but that this number is expected to reach about 1 billion neurons on attaining adulthood. However this development could be disturbed by lack of breast feeding, poor nutrition, lack of early learning opportunities, of early stimulation by care givers and lack of opportunity to play in a safe and healthy environment. The result is under development of the child’s cognitive, social and physical potentials.
According to him, the trauma is more pronounced if the conflict was experienced within the first seven years of life.
The Nigerian Government should take note of this as there are many children in the country’s IDP camps.
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