OPINION: Tanzania should strive to guarantee child nutrition

Research-based evidence has shown the importance of providing nutrition dense foods for the growth and development of children.

And in Tanzania, we still have key nutritional challenges, meaning 34 per cent of children under five are stunted and 33 per cent of children suffer from vitamin A deficiency, according to the Demographic and health survey (DHS 2015/16).

Every infant and child has a right to good nutrition, according to the Convention on the rights of every child. Globally, under-nutrition is associated with 45 per cent of child deaths globally. And in the world over, 155 million children under five were estimated to be stunted, while 52 million, were wasted (too thin for height) according to World Health Organisation (WHO) 2018 report.

This is why, we urgently need to address this nutrient gaps as a country to ensure our children are healthy. The first thing we should focus on is breastfeeding to ensure all children have a good nutritional start in life.

We should concentrate on our locally available foods to ensure that we get balanced diet. Nutritious foods don’t have to be expensive in the first place.

For instance, you can get eggs from your free-range chicken for protein, vegetables from your garden and rice, ugali or bananas to cover for the carbohydrates. We should also make use of fruits in season.

Parents should understand that balanced nutrition during early stages of life is very critical for a child’s growth and development and might have a long lasting impact on brain and cognitive development.

Perhaps awareness campaigns on the importance of child nutrition and bring in all stakeholders including health workers to offer comprehensive education mothers on this right from ante-natal clinics through to post-natal clinics.

And it is not parents alone, food and beverage companies too should ensure that they produce nutrient dense foods by reducing added sugars and increasing healthy nutrients.

Perhaps, it is time Tanzanian government move in swiftly to regulate food and beverage industry by ensuring that they cut off unhealthy sugar and high calorie products to ensure they also play a role in supporting children’s long term health by providing safer foods.

They should also stop aggressive marketing of unhealthy snacks for children and instead encourage children to enjoy fresh and nutritious foods, which are locally grown in the country.

The author is an Early Childhood Development Fellow with the International Centre for Journalists and Features Editor of The Citizen