Mother’s Challenge: A promising start in helping her children

Thursday, July 2, 2015

A model mother from Rudropur village in Muktagacha Upazila in Bangladesh, Aklima Khatun is 34-years-old with two young children. Her first child, Md. Asik was often sick with diarrhea, fever and other stomach problems as an infant. But learning after better feeding practice in PD/hearth session, Aklima has changed the way she feeds her baby, now 46 months old and doing very well.

"He was pale, his eyes had no focus, and his mother Aklima had no hope."

This young mother is now an inspiration for better infant and child feeding practices in her village. Her husband also helps her to ensure that she has the right range of foods to feed their baby.

About nine months ago, while World Vision Bangladesh’s health staff of Muktagacha programme area visited the village of Rudropur to monitor children’s health and found a little boy named Md. Asik severely malnourished.

“He was pale, his eyes had no focus, and his mother Aklima had no hope,” a Muktagacha programme area staff member recalls from that December 2012 visit.

After taking his height, weight and mid-upper arm circumferences, Asik was referred to the PD/Hearth programme for Muktagacha programme area. PD/Hearth is a community-based rehabilitation and behaviour change intervention for families with underweight preschool children.

Asik gradually gained weight and his progress was regularly followed by the programme staff and health program volunteers, as well as facilitators. Now, at 46 months old, he has gained weight from 11kg to 14.5 kg and is in Growth Monitoring Promotion (GMP) process.

Asik’s mother said he is continuing to gain weight. With the attention he receives from World Vision and the monthly growth check-ups; Asik’s mother is able to watch her son progress towards a healthy future.

Aklima’s child is among thousands of young children across Bangladesh whose nutritional status is rapidly improving. The Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2011-2012, revealed that, in spite of making substantial gains in the health sector, Bangladesh continues to pay a heavy price for malnutrition among children, with an annual loss of around BDT 78 billion (1 billion US$) in economic productivity.

The report said that some 41 per cent of under-5 children are suffering from stunted growth while 36 percent are too thin or underweight for their age – a sign of nutrient shortage. Another 16 percent of children are estimated to be affected by nutritional deficiency, weighing too little for their height. Further, about 400,000 children under-5 years of age generally suffer from severe or acute malnutrition or under nutrition. Stunting is one of common indicators in children.

“World Vision is working for the community households here, which is helping us to come out from malnutrition as well as ensure healthy hygiene practices for the other members of the family”, says Aklima, Akik’s mother. “Through this program we also learnt about handwashing before taking meal and after defecation.”

“Besides providing growth check-ups and nutritious food to malnourished children, the ADP also creates awareness among parents on the need to ensure that their child follows healthy diet. Even after the child is discharged from the program, community volunteers and facilitators from the ADP’s health program in their localities monitor the health of the child," said Laita Mitra, Programme Officer and in-charge of PD/hearth program of Muktagacha programme.

A story by Gloria Das