Caring for the smallest victims

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, January 1st. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: serving infants and their mothers in the midst of violence and instability.

As we heard earlier in the program, the situation in Nigeria is affecting more than just Christians. And one ministry there is continuing its work to save the lives of malnourished babies.

REICHARD: Severe poverty and high mortality rates have only been exacerbated by Islamic militant’s raids, further endangering mothers and their children. WORLD’s Lauren Canterberry has the story.

SOUND: [Babies crying in a clinic]

LAUREN CANTERBERRY: Mandolyn Crotts is carrying a tiny baby through her clinic in Jos, Nigeria. The little girl is one of dozens of infants Crotts’ serves every day.

Crotts and her husband, Caleb, first moved to Nigeria to teach English in 2018. They adopted their daughter there the same year. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and they moved back to the United States where Crotts gave birth to their son.

CROTTS: I really struggled feeding him and I needed a lot of help.

CROTTS: I had a lot of help in the U.S., and I realized that all my Nigerian friends they didn’t have that access to care.

She spent the next year training to become a certified lactation consultant. When the family moved back to Nigeria in 2020, she started a ministry called Carry Them —offering free lactation and infant health services at her home. Now, she and her team have cared for nearly 900 babies and their families.

CROTTS: It's gotten really busy, but it really comes down to supporting moms after birth, or supporting families when a mother passes away in childbirth, which is really common.

CROTTS: One in 22 moms don't survive childbirth here, and then one in 12 infants don't make it past the first year of life.

According to the World Bank, millions of Nigerian families don’t have access to affordable medical care. About half of all Nigerians live below the poverty line. And when it comes to feeding a baby, financial insecurity and a societal preference for formula over breastfeeding can leave many infants vulnerable to malnutrition.

CROTTS: There was formula marketing that was really popular in West Africa in the 1970s and free samples given out. They believed the Western world had stopped breastfeeding and was now formula feeding, and that was what was best for babies. So many of them switched to formula feeding, and then really quickly, they couldn't afford the formula because of how expensive it is, and they no longer had a breast milk supply.

Crotts says that in some parts of the country, a single can of formula can cost several times a family’s monthly salary. As a result, desperate parents resort to using more water in each bottle to make the formula stretch. That leaves babies without vital nutrients.

Crotts and her team spend hours each week helping women learn how to breastfeed and maintain their supply. They travel from hours away to receive the free support and supplies Carry Them offers.

CROTTS: When they see that baby survive, and they see the big difference that breastfeeding can make and a good supply and support, then they’re not going to try formula the next time. They’re going to be able to breastfeed and tell their aunties, and I hope their sisters and everybody in their village.

But that’s just part of Crotts’ work. She also helps families who bring in an emaciated baby in desperate need of help. That happens when a mother dies in or soon after childbirth, and her family is left with even fewer resources to care for her child.

CROTTS: It really comes at them from all angles.

CROTTS: Then you add this insecurity crisis, Boko Haram, other Northern, usually Islamic, well, always Islamic extremists.

According to Alliance Defending Freedom International, more than 7,000 Christians have been killed because of their faith in 2025. Millions more have relocated to refugee camps across the country.

ADFI Senior Counsel Sean Nelson.

NELSON: Unfortunately, for most of them, they are just left to their own devices. Only a small portion of the IDP camps are officially recognized, which means that they can get access to international humanitarian aid.

In some camps, Crotts said as many as one in 12 mothers die in childbirth. And formula is even more unattainable for displaced families.

Nelson and other human rights advocates have called for Nigerian officials to step in to stop the violence and protect displaced people. Nelson says disarming militants and taking seriously early warning calls from Christian communities should become top priority.

But the conflicts have impacts on families regardless of religion. Back in Jos, about 95% of the babies and families Crotts and her team serve are muslims. While the northern part of the country is largely muslim, the central region where Crotts lives is far more mixed.

CROTTS: We believe that building relationships with Islamic communities, saving the lives of their babies, showing them the humanity on all sides is huge.

SOUND: Audio of reunion.

In November, the families whose babies received care this year returned to the clinic. They celebrated the thriving babies and mourned those who did not survive. Crotts and her team also distributed food and necessities as a buffer against higher holiday prices.

CROTTS: I have all these hopes and wishes for each of my client – the way that they survive, the weight that I want them to get to, what graduation will look like, who will care for them. But at the end of the day, I truly believe that what is meant to happen will happen, and it's such a better plan than I could have.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lauren Canterberry.

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