Improving childhood malnutrition

Concern’s Nutrition Advisor, Lovely Amin, recently returned from Rwanda. Here, she answers some questions about nutrition.

Q: What happens to children who are malnourished?

When children, before the age of five, miss out on the nutrition they need it can affect them in many ways. They may be shorter for their age, perform poorly at school and have problems learning skills, which stops them from reaching their full potential.

If they haven’t received enough nutrients or if they have been ill, they will more than likely suffer from malnutrition.

A malnourished child is more prone to disease. You need food to stay alive, but also to stay strong. Without proper nutrition, your immune system is not efficient, so disease enters through germs like bacteria and can attack easily.

Then a cycle begins, when you have a disease, you become malnourished more easily.

Q: You went to Rwanda recently. How does Concern tackle malnutrition there?

In Rwanda, we started a community-based nutrition programme last October where children are treated for malnutrition.

For severe cases, a mother can bring their children to a clinic where they are given high-energy food, routine medicine and nutrition and hygiene education. For moderate cases, mothers come to a community kitchen. They bring food and cook it there, to give their children the vitamins, protein and other nutrients they need.

We run “kitchen gardens” too, to help families grow more food in their own compound for a better diet.

Q: Can you tell us about Concern’s community volunteers?

The community volunteers we have are amazing people. In Rwanda they are badly needed. We train them in good nutrition, spotting malnutrition and how to refer malnourished children.

Many children are too sick to come to clinics, yet they are the ones who are in need of the most attention. This is why our volunteers are so important. They do monthly monitoring, visiting all the houses in their area.

They aim to reach every child in their community, each and every month – and that is what they do. Every life counts. If we had more money, we could reach more children, before their condition has gone beyond recovery.