Here is the next school on fire-is your child safe?

By Henry Mutebe

In the wake of the haunting inferno at St.Bernard school in Rakai, in which 11 students were heartbreakingly incinerated to an excruciating death, and several others maimed, there has been, thankfully, a growing discussion about the safety of children in schools. Many schools may be exposing children to a range of risks than we may currently be aware of.

As bits of the dreadful news kept dripping from the various channels, detailing how the shocking incident unfolded, the nation caught a fever as multitudes of parents across the nation got locked in silence having watched the shocking images of the star-crossed dormitory- now turned furnace, in which the innocent youngsters’ candles burned out. What had started out as a pursuit of an education had tragically been brought to a tragic end, bringing to a stop not just the lives and dreams of these children and their parents, but with it, the dreams of a nation.

The fire may have stopped, but not the impact. For days to come, these images will still play in the memories of many and give parents sleepless nights about the safety of their children in schools. The fire is still burning, and every parent with a child in a boarding school is, understandably, still feeling the heat of the St. Bernard flames.

Is there anything we can learn from this fire? Yes. Schools may be exposing children to more risks than we may be prepared to believe. There are many fires brewing on different fronts that gravely put children at risk. One of those risks may surprise you- it is Cancer!!! Yes, you read right, I said CANCER!!

According to UBOS 2015, Uganda has over 8.6 million children enrolled in primary and another over 1.2 million in post primary institutions. While there have not been many studies to furnish us with empirical data on school feeding practices of schools, a New Vision survey once revealed that over 80% of schools were providing Maize meal/posho as the main food in schools. Close to 10 million children are feeding on Maize meal, 9 months of the year for the duration of their education. Here is the problem with it.

Most of the maize purchased by schools or received in small portions, from parents as contribution towards food for their children, is often not tested for aflatoxins. Aflatoxins are highly toxic and carcinogenic compounds produced by the fungi, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergilus parasticus during growth or storage of Maize and other cereals. Aflatoxins can cause Liver cancer and other illnesses. Sadly, they have been found to be present in a lot of the Maize that our children are consuming.

World over, there is a growing interest in Aflatoxins because of their ‘carcinogenic, immunosuppressive and growth retardation effects in animals and humans.’ (Muzora 2017). In Uganda, several studies have been done on different cereals including Maize, ground nuts, Sorghum among others to test for aflatoxin levels. In all these studies, significant samples have been found to contain worryingly high aflatoxin levels that are far and above the recommended levels.

Several studies conducted have all confirmed that in Uganda, aflatoxins were present in different food stuffs. As an example, Some Maize samples tested were at 701 ppb and yet recommended levels are 20 ppb maximum. The studies further reveal that there was 32 ppb in dried silver fish, 2000 ppb in groundnuts, 40 ppb in soybeans, 30 ppb in cassava chips and 25 ppb in sunflower seeds.

In the Muzora study, that focused on groundnuts, researchers concluded that ‘groundnuts in Uganda contain aflatoxins in levels above regulatory limits. Thus, quantifying aflatoxin levels in other staple foodstuffs through rigorous research to assess level of human exposure is vital.’ (Muzora, 2017).

In that study alone, while not representative of the whole country though samples were drawn from four regions of Uganda, the researchers found that ‘total aflatoxin concentrations of 30 (52%) samples exceeded the 20 ppb Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization’s regulatory limit.

In my view, the statistics above are a big smoking gun that should unsettle Ugandan authorities on food safety especially for children in institutionalized care where food is purchased in large quantities, stored for extended periods of time and served in massive quantities. Many schools have improper storage facilitates that are the perfect recipe for the growth of fungi that produce mycotoxins like aflatoxins which are highly carcinogenic.

Few schools if any, observe the recommended storage measurements where food/maize and other cereals must be stored some inches above the ground. Some schools, in a rush to save money, procure a lot of maize during the harvest season when prices are low and store it for months without proper fumigation and shelving to secure it from potential fungal growth or invasion by other agents.

Makerere University has been at the forefront of researching on aflatoxins and has severally warned government to take action but few interventions have been directed at schools. Prof Kaaya from the department of Food and Technology warned that they had conducted research since 2000 and found that many Ugandans were at risk of getting liver cancer because a several food crops tested had been found to have high levels of the dreadful fungi that produces the toxic substances- aflatoxins which can cause cancer.

His revelation supports earlier studies that have surveyed the gravity of the problem in Uganda and come to the same conclusion. He actually revealed that up to 60% of the maize, ground nuts, soya beans and sorghum on the market was found to have high levels of aflatoxins.

He shockingly added; ‘We have found out the levels can be as high as 1,000 parts per billion (the number of units of mass of a contaminant per 1000 million units of total mass) compared to the 10 parts per billion allowed by the East African Standards’ New vision (2017).

Samples may contain high or others low level of aflatoxins. There are also few studies in Uganda that have conclusively linked liver cancer to consumption of infested Maize or cereals, however, there is sufficient evidence from research that confirms that repeated or chronic exposure to low levels of aflatoxins can cause liver cancer. Because of the delayed response to the exposure, with cancer manifesting after years of chronic exposure to the cancer causing substance, the problem has largely remained unattended to by stakeholders.

Every day, our children are consuming what could tragically be the dreadful cancer causing substances through the untested Posho and other foods provided at school, because the state has not provided sufficient tools to institutions to regularly test and secure the food before the children consume it.

If we realize that 10 million children spending 9 months of their whole year at school, consuming this untested maize, in a country where all studies have confirmed presence of aflatoxins, and also consider that these children stay in school for over 11 years, we should be moved to take action because this is, in my view, chronic exposure that can potentially put 10 million lives on the line.

Questions must be asked. Who is testing the food that children are eating in schools? Does government know the gravity of food-borne diseases in schools? How many personnel working in school kitchens have been trained in food safety or even know about aflatoxins?

How many times do health inspectors visit schools and file reports about the condition of these schools? If WFP does not procure untested maize and has severally rejected tons of Maize because of high levels of aflatoxins, who has followed up too see where that Maize ends going?

As many as 10 million children are exposed to the danger of liver cancer due to the weak regulatory framework, poor supervision and lack of commitment on the part of authorities to monitor the safety of children in schools. As we investigate the fires, we must be awake to a potentially worse fire, that is hiding in plain sight, whose deaths will be seen after years, whose impact will be in billions, and whose flames we may never have the extinguishers to put out.

Aflatoxins are another form of fire that may consume our children due to the prolonged exposure to untested food. Where does your child go to school? Do they test the maize/posho they serve him or her? Are cooks trained in food safety? Are their stores safe? Are parents aware that the maize rejected by WFP and other big buyers, due to its aflatoxin levels ends up back on the market, and probably to the school where their children are?

If you don’t have any answer to those questions, then your child’s school is exactly where the next fire may be brewing. The next fire is not going to burn a school building, it may burn children in form of a cancer- and it is a dangerous fire. Ask authorities to answer what they are doing to secure the food that children consume in schools.

With the Uganda Cancer Institute receiving between 4500-6000 new cases every year, we have every cause to worry about cancer. An estimated 200,000 Ugandans are believed to be living with this disease. Only 4% of these are said to access the much needed treatment. The Institute reveals that in Uganda, 80% of cancer patients die from the disease. If you we don’t do something about the safety of food in schools, by 2030, we could have over 1 million cancer cases in Uganda.