The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has announced that there is a surge in malnutrition among children in the Upper East Region.
Malnutrition is an imbalance between the nutrients an individual’s body requires for proper functioning and the nutrients it receives.
According to the Upper East Regional Nutrition Officer of GHS, Ms Gloria Kobati, the monthly routine gathered from antenatal care centres in the region revealed that an underweight prevalence of 0.7% among children in July rose to 1.2 percent in September 2022.
She asserted that there is a need for an immediate intervention, “or else the situation could get worse by the end of the year.”
Speaking to the media, the nutritionist attributed the rise of malnutrition in the region to lactating mothers depriving their babies of breast milk and the lack of food supplements in the region.
“We know that exclusive breastfeeding is the best nutrition for a child, but most mothers are not doing it well, we have only 70 percent coverage and want to strive for 90 per cent in the region, so we are encouraging them to breastfeed well and continue till two years.
“Though we have the capacity to improve the situation, the needed commodities are unavailable to run most of the programmes, the Nutrition Officer stressed.
Malnourishment is one of the most pressing global health issues.
Per the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 45% of deaths among children under 5 are linked to undernutrition.
A healthy baby, according to her, is one who is not denied breast milk, as the latter supplies all the necessary nutrients in the proper proportions.
She explained that, lactating mothers who solely feed their 6-month-old babies with only carbohydrates meals as such as porridge must refrain from that, since those retards babies’ growth.
“Not only porridge, it is just carbohydrates and can lead to malnutrition, but a child that is learning to eat should be given a varied diet that contains protein. Vegetables, fruits, legumes, and carbohydrates.
On the other hand, Ms Kobati stated that a surveillance survey conducted by her team further exposed the majority of pregnant women in the region as being anaemic.
She added that the impact of anaemia in pregnancy might have a toll on unborn babies, as they would experience low birth weight.
According to her, low birth weight babies are exposed to severe complications such as stunted growth; therefore, the government must support pregnant women in the region with supplements to protect pregnant mothers and their babies.
Source: The Independent Ghana
Source: Theindependentghana.com
