Event teaches parents about child health

On the 26 and 27 November the Maternal and Child Health lead a World Vision Global Week of Action event in Ngamuga village, Makira. The event was held to mark World Children’s Day and to advocate on maternal and child health as part of World Vision’s global Child Health Now  campaign.

The event attracted more than 150 mothers and some fathers from Ngamuga and the surrounding communities. During the event, World Vision’s team weighed 220 babies and children under five years old to ascertain how they were developing. The exercised showed 146 out of 220 children in the area were underweight, which is alarmingly high. Parents of children boasting a healthy weight were awarded small prizes in the hope that this would encourage other parents to follow their example.   

Some reasons for malnutrition in the area are;

• Lack of family planning means parents are having many children in close succession. This puts  strain on the family’s food resources and the attention of the mother on each child.
• Reliance on edible gardens for food, which are at the mercy of the elements and natural conditions.
• A lack of mother’s knowledge about food and the type of food young children should eat.
• The common village practice of eating only two meals a day, this is not conducive to children’s small stomachs. Young children require small and frequent meals.

The event addressed these issues and provided information to parents about nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, family planning and anaemia. 

The two day event was a huge success in taking the message of maternal and child health to these remote communities. On the second day of the event more women and children attended at the recommendation of their friends and family.

The Makira Maternal and Child Health team will continue to talk with communities about improving the health of mothers and children under five around Makira province with the aim of reducing maternal and child mortality in the region.