Malnutrition takes a toll of nearly 240 children every day in country

Around 240 children die every day in the country because of malnutrition while around 110 babies die for not giving breast milk within one hour of birth, paediatric specialists and nutritionists said.
Khurshid Talukder, paediatrician and research coordinator of Centre for Women and Child Health, estimated the figure based on some reports published by some international and national organisations and journals such as Unicef, Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey and Lancet.
Around 45 per cent of under-five babies die of various infectious diseases for not giving breast milk to them while 30 per cent and 18 per cent of babies die of diarrhoea and pneumonia respectively, Khurshid Talukder told New Age.
‘Improper diet is one of the main reasons of child malnutrition,’ he said, adding that people should be well aware of proper diet of the babies.
The Unicef National Report Bangladesh 2008 said that around 46 per cent under-5 babies are not as tall as they should be. It also said that due to same reason 15 per cent children are skinny and 40 per cent are under-weight according to their age.
The report also said that children of rural areas are suffering more from malnutrition compared to that of the children in urban areas.
The experts said that average height of people of the country is decreasing gradually due to malnutrition.
They said that due to adolescent marriage, the mothers’ bodies do not grow properly for reproduction.
As the girls are growing at the time of their marriage, they need more nutrition, the experts said. On the other hand, if the mother becomes pregnant at this age, the babies absorb nutrition from her body which make the mother more malnourished.
The children do not grow properly in the womb of a malnourished mother. About 40 per cent of those who are born on time are born underweight (less than 2.5 kg).
They emphasised on exclusive breastfeeding and suggested giving home-made complimentary food to the baby.
According to Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, overall nutrition situation among the under-5 children in last 10 years remain unchanged. The rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the country is also in the same position.
‘The rate of death among under-5 children is the highest while we receive children at our hospital aged bellow six month mostly,’ Dr. Talukdar said.
Fatima Parveen Chowdhury, director of the Institute of Public Health Nutrition, told New Age on Friday that more than half of the children aged bellow five years are suffering from malnutrition while around 80 per cent children (0-5 year) are suffering from anaemia.
She said that the government is planning to extend the maternity leave from four months to six months so that mothers can provide breast milk to their children.
‘We observe that the employees of the private organisations, especially the garment workers, do not get their maternity leave properly,’ Fatima said.
Employers do not provide day care facilities to allow the working mothers to provide breast milk to their babies, she said.
Physicians demanded that the government should give more budgetary allocation for creating awareness among people about breastfeeding and home cooked complementary feeding for babies.
Besides, the government should take steps against importing ready to use complimentary food such as Plumpy’nut and Plumy’doz in the country which is recommended by Unicef.
Indian government has already stopped the free distribution of Plumpy’nut by Unicef.
Issues like nutrition, breastfeeding and baby food should be discussed at the parliament and the government should take stern steps on these issues.

Courtesy of NewAgebd