Nutrition Program gives undernourished children a healthy start

It’s a beautiful Tuesday morning, and a group of mothers have gathered with their little ones in a small church anticipating the arrival of a team from World Vision.

 The mothers have prepared firewood, fetched cooking water, brought food from their gardens, and set them up inside a small outdoor kitchen, anxiously waiting.

Today is a special day for the Harinai community as it marks the beginning of the rehabilitation process for children under the age of 5 years who have been identified as malnourished after falling below the healthy weight range.

This was revealed after a situation analysis survey was conducted in the community that brought to light the plight of the children, prompting the implementation of the Positive Hearth Deviance (PHD) approach. 

Through the rehabilitation process, the children will be fed a balanced meal for 10-12 days until they gain a healthy weight.

World Vision Lead Health Specialist Ms. Ainda Piako Kepon said healthy food recipes and health talks have been prepared to help the children.

‘’We have come up with food recipes that we will prepare with the help of the mothers by advocating about healthy and positive behaviors to the mothers so they can help prepare proper meals for their children after we leave ‘’ said Ainda.

Apart from feeding the children with nutritionally balanced meals for the next 12 days, awareness sessions will also be conducted daily for the mothers on the importance of hand washing, food handling, preparing a balanced diet, immunization, breastfeeding, and Infant and Young Child Feeding.

Nutrition officer for the WOVEN project, Jerome Kaupa started the day's session by reminding the mothers of the importance of cooking a healthy and balanced meal, washing food and hands before meal preparations, and immunization.

‘’Proper hand washing hands, eating a balanced diet, and cleaning kitchen surfaces and sinks or even a fireplace may seem harmless, yet negatively impact our health and this leads to making children sick, always remember to wash your hands before touching food to cook, after using the toilet, before eating, after changing diapers, and wash your child’s hands before he/she touches food’’ explained Jerome.

Among the mothers and their children was little Samuel with his mother Kurahe Siyo. Samuel is two - years -old and he is unable to sit and walk on his own. Samuel’s mother has been worried about her son and did not know what was wrong with him until the intervention of the Positive Deviance Hearth (PDH) approach.

The PDH approach is an approach that seeks to bring healthy eating and feeding practices, especially for children under five. It is part of the Nutritional Component of the Well Being Outcomes to End Violence, Enable Livelihoods, and Improve Nutrition (WOVEN) project funded by the New Zealand Government (MFAT) and implemented by World Vision.

Kurahe said she was grateful to be part of the program as she has been worried about her son's health and hopes that this program will help her son regain good health and possibly start to walk.

‘’After noticing that my son was unable to walk, I have just been carrying him around, his legs are ok but just not strong enough for him to stand on his own, after learning that he is malnourished, I am hoping this program will help him regain his weight and be healthy again so he can walk ‘’ she said

She further explained that she had a home birth with Samuel and admitted not bringing him to the hospital for his routine immunization dose.

‘’I gave birth to him at home and never brought him for immunization, he has already turned two years old but is still not able to walk and stand on his own and this has been worrying me’’, said Kurahe.

After the sessions, she has now realized the importance of immunization and a balanced diet and hopes to see changes in Samuel after he completes the rehabilitation process.

Samuel is among 23 other children under five years of age who have been identified as malnourished in the Harinai community.

After the awareness session on food preparations and how to cook a balanced meal, Kurahe, and other mothers admitted that the sessions were eye-opening and challenging, admitting that they normally prepared food anyhow and most times did not prepare balanced meals.

Micheline Paule, a grandmother who had brought her granddaughter said the food demonstrations on good food hygiene practices, and handwashing practices were helpful and informative.

‘’At home, we prepare food anyhow, most times we don’t wash the food properly before cooking, we don’t wash our hands properly before preparing food or after using the toilet, these are things we always forget to do and being reminded of how important these things are and how it contributes to our health and our children has been eye-opening and something new we have learned’’ said Micheline.

She further said that, although they plant food in their gardens, over time they resort to just eating one type of meal only and this she believes is the reason their children have scumbled to malnourishment. ‘’ We have a surplus of food here which we grow, however, we did not understand the importance of

what a tomato or even a bean can do to our body and especially our babies, and how to properly cook a balanced meal this is something new I have learned and I’m sure the others have also learned some valuable lessons, now we clearly understand why some of our children are undernourished’’ stressed Micheline.

Practical sessions were also done on how to properly cook a balanced meal and wash hands.

Another young mother, Joycelyn Pauru acknowledged the Nutrition team through the WOVEN project for implanting this program in their community and believes it will help change how they live and help the mothers make good decisions for their family.

‘’ We did not know our children were malnourished, we thought they were doing well but finding out that they are malnourished has really challenged us, and we are now prepared to cook good food and give them and I am grateful for this program ‘’,said Joycelyn Pauru.

Thanks to the WOVEN project, little Samuel and others have a chance to be healthy and happy children.