The public health issue I chose to
research was “Nutrition/malnutrition”. My choice for this
issue was because I observe children daily who lack healthy food in
their diets. Children in a world were healthy food is available, but
some parents do not take advantage of or see the value of such foods.
But when reading through an article about nutrition in Somalia. I found that, “Under-nutrition is not merely the result of poor food intake, in terms of quantity and quality, but also of illnesses. For the body to use nutritious food effectively also requires optimal health care, and access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation. This is particularly important for the most vulnerable groups, pregnant and breastfeeding women, children under two years of age and children under age of five who are suffering from infectious diseases such as HIV. There is well established evidence that a lack of key vitamins and minerals in the diet such as iodine, iron, vitamin A, and foliate, cause still births, miscarriages, mental and growth retardation, physical weakness, blindness, and increase the risk of diseases and ultimately death. When nutritional deprivations occur early in life, from conception up to two years of age, children will stop growing and become stunted (low height for age). Stunting, also referred to as chronic malnutrition, has long term debilitating effects: Children who are stunted are at greater risk of illness and death, and those who survive are more likely to perform less well at school. If children experience weight loss or "wasting" (low weight for height), they are suffering from acute malnutrition. Underweight is a composite measure of both stunting and wasting. Unlike wasting and underweight, stunting past the age of two is irreversible. Plus, almost twice as many children are affected by stunting than by underweight” (UNICEF, 2009).
Reference
UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa – Young Child Survival and Development
I think you have made some extremely important points, about the value of good nutrition for the healthy development of children. I find it sad in cases of abuse when food is withheld as a means of harming a child. Abuse of any kind is cruel on any level. As a public health issue, nutrition sometimes can be an issue we over look and take for granted that we all have the same means to provide for our children in the exact same way.
ReplyDeleteWe are blessed to have programs for underprivileged families in Colorado. A specific program called WIC gives families healthy foods such as milk, eggs, juice, cereal, peanut butter and more to pregnant mothers up until their child turns 5 years old. In addition, they provide education on breastfeeding. This website shows the list of foods. http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&blobheadername2=Content-Type&blobheadervalue1=inline%3B+filename%3D%22Allowable+food+list+in+English+.pdf%22&blobheadervalue2=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1251811853914&ssbinary=true
ReplyDeleteWIC is provided based on the financial needs of each individual families. My hope is that more countries see the need of such a program.
Edith thank you for your insights in this area. Our program is supplemented by the state nutritional funding. We strive to provide the best meals of any childcare in the state. What we encounter is that some of children are not used to good quality meals and so they will not eat some of the food we prepare. So we struggle with preparing nutritious meals they might not eat or preparing junk they will. We are working on it though.
ReplyDelete