Malnutrition Still Alarming
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Addis Ababa, Nov 05, 2007 (The Daily Monitor/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) — Between one-third and two-thirds of children under-five in Ethiopia suffer from a chronic malnutrition, according to a new research conducted by Save the Children.
The research entitled Running on Empty covers other developing nations-Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma) and Tanzania.
The report showed seasonal changes which have a direct bearing on poor nations affect food availability thereby making the coast of a healthy diet up to one third more expensive during the lean periods in the year It said despite overall high breastfeeding rates for the early years of the children, diets of the poor children across all study countries “deteriorated dangerously especially during this crucial period,” “This research shows that even if a poor family spent all of their income on food, it would not be enough to guarantee their children were free from malnutrition,” said David Throp, Save the Children’s Country Director launching the report at the Alem Cinema on Friday.
“The only effective way to tell if families can ensure their children are free from malnutrition is by calculating whether they can afford a healthy diet,” Throp added.
According to the results of the study, between 15 and 7 percent of households simply can’t afford to feed their children a healthy diet and stated their life as “condemned to hand-to-mouth existence.” The report has also measured- for the first time- just how wide the gap is between the price of feeding a family enough nutritious food to be healthy, and how much people in Ethiopia, including those others the research covered, are able to spend on food.
The Report reveals feeding a family of five in Ethiopia costs U.S.$1.27 a day Households in Ethiopia however live on between 20 cents and a US dollar a day It would take a family in Ethiopia a four months hard labor in the fields to earn just enough to cover the coast of a healthy diet for one month, the report revealed.
Findings in the report demonstrate that only between 10 and 60 percent of poor fewer than two years get enough meals and eat enough different foods to meet recommended standards “One of the most effective ways that people can tackle malnutrition is to provide regular cash benefits, like social security benefit or child benefits, to the poorest families,” Ken Caldwell, Director of Save the Children International Operation noted adding this has been shown to reduce malnutrition in different countries around the world.
He said Save the children advocates the idea of cash payments which he said has been proved to be one of the most effective ways to tackle vulnerability and hardship.
“Cash payments are also one of the ways to most effectively reduce malnutrition,” said the International Operations Director.
“This is because cash enables families to have resources to purchase foods they need and choose the foods they know will provide for their families and children” The Director called national governments, donors and the governments of other G8 countries to support cash benefits For every 10% increase in stunting, the proportion of children reaching the final grade of school drops by almost 8%.
When considering that each year of schooling increases wages earned by almost 10%, the impact on household and national economies is significant, according to the Save the Children..
Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Education and Social Policy, Health and Infectious Disease