BANGLADESH has achieved laudable progress in reducing under-five child mortality rate. But as per disclosure by President of Nutrition International; there are plenty of works that need to be done. Issues to be dealt with like underweight and overweight, obesity and non-communicable diseases must be properly dealt with.
In our country, many diseases and inadequate intake of food cause malnutrition. In rural areas these problems are said to be quite extreme as poor have inadequate access to healthy food while others have insufficient access to quality health services, including family planning, immunization and medical services, poor access to sanitation and potable water.
The nutritional status of adolescent girls and women is a key factor in any country. We are still struggling to deal with this problem. In our country children are much more likely to be of low weight at birth and remain malnourished throughout their lives if their mothers were malnourished during adolescence and prior to and during pregnancy. Malnourished children are said to be physically weak, they lack resistance to disease, they do less well at school, remain less productive as adults and vulnerable for support for rest of their lives.
Nutrition development is very important issue for a developing country. Just as its damaging effects can pass from one generation to the next, the benefits of good nutrition can also save health budget and make people more productive at workplace. So giving a child a solid nutritional start has a profound impact for life on his or her physical, mental and social development.
A healthy nation can become prosperous easier than a nation with more unhealthy people starting with malnourished children. It goes without saying that the public health authorities must be proactive to create the awareness among people and expecting mothers in particular that the future of the child and the nation itself is dependent on giving birth to a healthy baby and its growth with adequate access to nutritious food. Nutritious food always does not mean costly food, much of it depends on the mothers awareness about the quality of food available from around in the nature. Much of it depends on how the mother will keep the baby safe from diseases.
The problem is that malnutrition weakens the immune system, makes a child open to disease increasing severity of illness to hinder recovery. A sick child, in turn, can quickly become malnourished. Age-appropriate breast-feeding and nourishing complementary foods, along with adequate health care, can break this vicious cycle. Nutritional development goes parallel with country’s overall development.
In our view our health system should address the issues and take proper actions to prevent malnutrition related problems. Giving health related lessons at community level could best serve the purpose.
