Monday 14 March 2011

MALNUTRITION: Sri Lanka: 300,000 children suffer from chronic malnutrition – UNICEF Rep


By Abibatu Kamara


The Country Representative of the UN children’s agency (UNICEF), Mahimbo Mdoe yesterday stated that over 300,000 Sierra Leonean children under five years suffer from chronic malnutrition.
She was speaking at the opening ceremony of a 2-day National Nutrition and Food Security forum at the Bank of Sierra Leone complex in Freetown, organised by the Ministries of Health and Sanitation and Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security who brought together stakeholders to look for solutions to the problem of under-nutrition in Sierra Leone.
She said that malnutrition continued to be one of the most critical development challenges in Sierra Leone today with over 300,000 children under the age of five years suffering from chronic malnutrition.
The UNOCEF boss said that a survey conducted in 2010 indicated that one-third of children below 5 years in Sierra Leone were chronically malnourished and about 7% acutely malnourished, while 19% were underweight.
Mdoe said a large proportion of the next generation could not live up to their full physical and mental potential noting that trends indicated a steady improvement. She said accelerating progress in reducing child hunger and malnutrition was central to achieve the country’s MDG targets and ensure long-term economic growth and social stability.
In his keynote address, Minister of Information and Communications, Ibrahim Ben Kargbo said reports in the past showed that malnutrition was a leading cause of child death and morbidity. He noted that stunted growth had also been identified as one of its resultant effects which limit the physical, mental and emotional development of children and adults, severely restricting the potential economic and social development of Sierra Leone.
Mr Kargbo further stated that despite our unrelenting efforts, together with partners, to fight malnutrition, records showed that malnutrition rates were at 300, 000 which he said was very much on the high side. He said this was unacceptable and that his government would continue to put deliberate set of policies and strategies in place to reduce child hunger and nutrition in Sierra Leone.
“The National Food and Nutrition policy and the smallholder commercialization programme investment plan respectively adopted in 2009 and 2010 rank high among the key policies that will be drivers of child reducing hunger and under nutrition in Sierra Leone” he said.
The Information Minister said that government had prioritised raising quantity and value-added productivity in agriculture as a critical response to poverty reduction among the two thirds of Sierra Leoneans who are engaged in agricultural activities.
Minister of Health and Sanitation, Haja Hawa Zainab Bangura reiterated that hunger and malnutrition were two of the most serious challenges facing the world in general but Sierra Leone in particular. She added children were the most visible victims of under-nutrition, adding that they deserved special attention because of their vulnerability to ill health.
The Deputy Director of the Ministry of Agriculture, Amara Idara Sheriff said the causes of child hunger and under-nutrition were predictable and preventable, and could be addressed through affordable means. He said that more than half the deaths of young children was caused by infectious diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea and measles she he said had under-nutrition as an underlying cause.
Presentations on the nutritional and food security situation in Sierra Leone, its impact on economic and social development, and why the government had adopted the REACH approach was done by the Nutritional Expert, Aminata Koroma and Mohamed Sheriff from the Ministry of Agriculture.

http://www.awoko.org/2011/03/11/300000-children-suffer-from-chronic-malnutrition-unicef-rep/


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