health

April 13, 2021

LINEO MABEKEBEKE

2 min read

Community nutrition clubs a proven model for healthy future

Community nutrition clubs a proven model for healthy future

Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro

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FOR children to be healthy they must receive the right food, but unfortunately most parents lack the knowledge and information about nutrition to meet their children’s needs, the Director of Food and Nutrition Coordinating Office in Leribe, Dr ’Masekonyela Sebotsa says.

Every child, she said has the right and opportunity to live life to the fullest, adding that good nutrition is an essential foundation for health and development.

But Dr Sebotsa said malnutrition continues to be the world’s most serious health problem and the single biggest contributor to child mortality.

A member of the ’Mate Nutrition club in ’Mate, Ha Selebalo in Leribe - ’Malebohang Makeka said she joined the club when she fell pregnant, adding she thereafter learnt how to eat properly so that her child would be born healthy and in full weight.

When her child was three months old, she said she began to plant vegetables in her garden in order to supplement her diet and ensure that she would have the right balance of nutrition for her child after six months of exclusive breastfeeding.

On Thursday last week, Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro visited the residents of ’Mate with a view to establish the type of nutritional challenges they encounter.

Addressing the community, the Premier noted that two in every five Basotho children under the age of five are stunted.

Dr Majoro said this is demonstrated visibly by the children’s inadequate physical growth and their insufficient brain development, adding that result in their not participating fully in life and in the development of Lesotho.

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This, he said is happening in a country that once fed other countries in the past and has enough arable land to grow its own food as well as rear its own animals for meat.

He applauded the women who do not spend their time lamenting their misfortunes but who instead take action to correct untoward situations in their lives.

The ’Mate Nutrition Club with 72 nursing mothers was formed with the support of the World Vision Lesotho to educate the female residents of that village on nutrition issues and ensure that none of their children are malnourished.

The club also provides a supportable community based forum for multi-sectoral actions to address childhood under-nutrition.

Mothers who are pregnant or have young children gather at the village level to discuss their experiences and learn better practices in child care, feeding, health, sanitation and gardening.

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