Hey Everyone, it is mid week and how are you doing? I am so grateful to God for the opportunity to be alive and well, through childhood and into adulthood. Also, today is children’s day and I want to wish every child a wonderful and happy children’s day. There are so many children out there on the streets, abused, hungry and homeless now than ever before in the history of mankind. Today, let us take a one minute silence and recognize children who have died avoidable or premature deaths; as a result of wars, natural disasters, sexual abuse, starvation and so on.
And may the souls of the faithful, through the mercy of God rest in peace Amen.
One topic I want to write on and share on this special day….special not just because I have two beautiful children who mean everything to me but because I believe in the future of our children, I believe in their present as who they are now and also I believe they are gifts from God……They aren’t ours at all. The topic is Malnutrition, which is a silent crisis in Nigeria.
According to research, 11 million children are stunted under the age of five in Nigeria, 1 out of every 5 children are severely malnourished and 90 percent of children age 6-23 month are not fed properly based on recommended feeding practices. Imagine a world where many children won’t survive to see their first birthday.
Malnutrition is a condition that occurs when people consistently do not consume or absorb the right amounts and types of food and essential nutrients. The main indicator for malnutrition is stunting. Stunting is when children are too short for their age due to inadequate intake of the required nutrients over a long period of time. Stunted children have poor physical growth and brain development, preventing them from thriving and living up to their full potential.
This means that in future we won’t be having tall people to play the game of basketball (or some other kinds of sports) both local and internationally. Our children will no longer dream of marrying ‘tall bla bla bla ‘ lady or man. individuals may not be able to live to their full potential because of poor development of the brain. And all this unnecessary ‘drama” because parents fail to feed their children well.
Luckily, there are 3 ways to get out of this ‘drama’;
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Parents should put babies to the breast in the first 30 minutes after birth and breastfeed them exclusively for the first six months without any other foods or liquids- not even one drop of water!
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Parents should start giving a sufficient amount of a variety of healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, eggs and meat after the first 6 months of life, along with continued breastfeeding for up to 2 years or beyond.
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Parents should have access to the right amount and variety of foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals, and be encouraged to consume them regularly.
So get your thoughts together and set on a mission to change your feeding plans and document them, place your priorities right and most importantly pass on this message. Together we can change this statistics!
Once again Happy Children’s Day and please share your thoughts.
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