Senior paediatrician and adviser of Bangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation MQK Talukder on Monday criticised the government as he said there was no visible activities even one year after mainstreaming the nutrition programmes nationally.
He was addressing a programme organised by the Alive and Thrives at BRAC Centre Inn on launching ceremony on ‘Mid-term Reports Dissemination of Alive and Thrives initiatives in Bangladesh’.
‘Still there are no visible activities of the government even one year after the National Nutrition Service was launched,’ he said.
He called on the mother to feed their child home-made food and strongly criticised the ready-to-use therapeutic foods.
Faruque Ahmed, senior director of BRAC International, said political commitment was needed to change the nutrition condition.
Health and nutrition experts at the programme said people were still unaware of nutrition-related issues.
They called for strong monitoring by government so that Breast Milk Substitute Code was not violated.
Kuntal Kumer Shaha, country coordinator from the International Food Policy Research Institute, described the data they found in the mid-term evaluation of Alive and Thrives initiatives in Bangladesh.
He said even after invention malnutrition is still high in those areas. ‘We know that the situation will not change rapidly. It will take time.’
Among others SM Mustafizur Rahman, programme manager of the National Nutrition Service, and Tina G Sanghvi, senior country director, were present.
-With New Age input
