I think Niger is about as close to the Saharan desert as you can get.  I traveled there fairly frequently between 1985 and 1999.

Blood in the stools in Niger would most likely indicate amoebic dysentery, which is entirely possible for newborns to experience in that environment.  The early initiation rate for breastfeeding is 40%. In some parts of Niger, they test the milk with a knife and if the colostrum rolls the wrong direction they don't give the colostrum.  It is very common to give fermented camel's milk mixed with water and millet.  Water is scarce.  All of their local expressions and analogies have to do with water (or really lack of water).  Women have to walk miles for water and it is rarely clear.  I've been exposed to Entamoeba histolytica on three continents.  The most virulent of which was in Niger.  One of my colleagues who regularly drank the millet milk mixture and ate salads because her major advisor thought this was a great way to build immunity to E histolytica merely ended up a skeletal wreck weighing 85 pounds with severe gut issues.  She did NOT become immune.  The exclusive breastfeeding rate to six months in 2009 (according to UNICEF) is 10%.  

So, I suppose in comparison to that, you might not pick up on more subtle forms of allergy if they existed.  I know there are some theories that exposure to a wide range of bacteria may make children more resistant to allergies, but really at what cost to survival?  The infant mortality rate is 144 per 1000, the underfive mortality rate is 305 per thousand.  That means three out of 10 children die before their fifth birthday.  Hardly what I consider a shining example of a suitable analogy for relaxing about bloody stools.

Yes, infants and young children do starve to death unnecessarily.  That does not mean that if one wants to create a healthier environment for their children that they should merely be grateful that their infant or child is not starving.  We should want all children to be THRIVING.

Sincerely,
Susan E Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

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