Leaders and residents in Kagera Region have been challenged to ensure that deaths among children aged below five are halted through joint efforts This follows a recent report indicating that almost 52 per cent of children in the region were suffering from malnutrition.
The report also indicated that the rate of stunting stood at 34.7 per cent. Moreover, the report shows the percentage of poor health as follows: Underweight (13.4), wasting (3.8) ,Vitamin A Deficiency (33 per cent), anemia (59 )anemia among pregnant women (53) low birth weight ( seven ).
According to the Regional Nutrition Development Officer, Paul Makali, a national survey conducted last year established that Kagera Region was on the top, among ten regions in the country, where malnutrition stood at 52 per cent among children aged below five.
Other regions includes; Dodoma, Mwanza, Kigoma, Mbeya, Dar es Salaam, Geita, Tabora, Ruvuma and Lindi. Parents, especially women, should be educated on the importance of breastfeeding. There is urgent need to reduce the prevalence of stunting. The first 1,000 days of a child's life are very crucial.
The brain develops rapidly, laying the foundation for future cognitive and social ability. Broken marriages, gender based violence and forced marriage are among leading causes of malnutrition as mothers are denied enough time to look after their new born babies, he said.
The Kagera Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Salim Kijuu said the region had enough food reserves adding that there is no reason at all to have malnutrition among children. Under nutrition is wrecking children's lives.
Globally, 161 million chronically undernourished children are not getting the right nutrients and care at the right time. From 1-7 August, World Breastfeeding Week was celebrated in Kagera Region at the national level, along with the national Farmers' Day known as 'Nane Nane' held at Kyakailabwa Agricultural grounds, some five kms from Bukoba town.
"For many different reasons, including cultural norms and lack of knowledge, women in Kagera Region are not receiving the support they need to start breastfeeding immediately after the baby is born.
Giving babies other liquids or foods may be another reason early breastfeeding is delayed. We have to intensify our efforts so that many more Tanzanian children, and their mothers, benefit from optimal breastfeeding practices," he noted.
According to Mr Kijuu, several Community Health Workers (CHW) are currently undergoing a one-year course at Nyakahanga District Designated Hospital (DDH), in Karagwe District and Rubya Designated Hospital (DDH), in Muleba District. In a bid to educate women on the importance of early breastfeeding.
Breast milk is a baby's first vaccine, the first and best protection they have against illness and disease. With newborns, accounting for nearly half of all deaths of children under five, saying early breastfeeding can make the difference between life and death.
Delaying breastfeeding by 2-23 hours after birth increases the risk of dying in the first 28 days of life by 40 per cent. Delaying it by 24 hours or more increases that risk to 80 per cent. In Tanzania, only one out of two children aged 0-23 months benefit from early initiation of breastfeeding.
Depriving them of the essential nutrients, antibodies and skin-to-skin bonding contact with their mother that protect them from disease and death. Less than 41 per cent of children, less than six months old were exclusively breastfed in 2014.
In some areas like Ruvuma and Tanga, the figure is as low as 25 per cent and in Zanzibar 20 per cent of children were exclusively breastfed, with Pemba as low as 10 per cent. Around the world, only 43 per cent of infants under six months old are exclusively breastfed. Babies who are not breastfed at all are 14 times more likely to die than those who are fed only breast milk. But any amount of breast milk reduces a child's risk of death.
Babies who received no breast milk at all are seven times more likely to die from infections than those who received at least some breast milk in their first six months of life. Under nutrition is the underlying cause of 43 per cent of children deaths.
Every year, that is around 3.1 million deaths of children under the age of five are due to under nutrition. African governments and civil society organisations have made huge gains in ensuring that girls go to school and complete their education.
An educated woman has higher chance to choose the number of children and give them the basic needs including early breast feeding. This, of course, has enormous benefits for both girls and societies at large.
Programmes like the Adolescent Girls' Initiative, which evaluates economic outcomes among girls, have proved that education and training empowers girls to venture into non-traditional, non-farm employment. Globally, about 60 per cent of girls with no or less education are married by the 18th birthday compared with 10 per cent of their peers who completed secondary education.
Early marriage deprives girls of education and opportunities and increases the risk of death or serious childbirth injuries. Child brides are also at greater risk of domestic and sexual violence. Article 5 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child has this to say...."Every child has an inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law", while Article 14 stipulates in part that.....
"Every child shall have the right to enjoy the best attainable state of physical, mental and spiritual health". In Tanzania, it is imperative that all children get registration at birth. This is a legal right. It is also imperative that all children get good health care, nutrition and education.
Children must also be protected from all sorts of harm, abuse and discrimination. Last month, the High Court of Tanzania ruled that Sections 13 and 17 of the Law of Marriage Act 1971, which allows girls to marry at age 15 with parental permission and at age 14 with permission of the Court were unconstitutional.
The honourable judges gave the Attorney General (AG) one year from the date of the decision within which to make arrangement for amendments of the law to put 18 years as the minimum age for one to contract marriage. The court's ruling follows a series of new legal measures adopted by the government.
Which makes it a crime to attempt to marry school-going children under 18 years. As well as any person who impregnates a primary school or a secondary school girl.
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