The child will not be as happy as other children and will show less inclination to learn at school. In Nigeria, the importance of adequate nutrition in ensuring child survival has become acceptable and popular. Local, national and international agencies have ensured that every Nigerian community receive information on child survival. In 1985, ORT saved half a million Nigerian children, but because most survivors continue to live in the same debilitating circumstances that put them at risk of death, they are also at risk of arrested or delayed psychological development. These debilitating circumstances must, therefore, be confronted with the same vigor, as the campaigns for the provision of adequate nutrition.
Psychological delays affect an individual's entire life.
This is because, the principal determinants of any real equal opportunity in educational, occupational and social terms are, for most, laid down in the years between birth and sex years of age. In essence, therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the quality of the child's life is enhanced, after survival has been achieved. What happens after survival is so fundamental that interventions must be bases on a long term approach devoted to improving and sustaining the right quality of life. This can be done through the provision of environmental enrichment and stimulation. This is changing.