300,000 children in Sierra Leone malnourished: UNICEF
More than 300,000 children under five in Sierra Leone are malnourished, UNICEF Country Representative Mahimbo Mdoe said at the weekend.
Addressing a meeting on National Nutrition and Food Security, Mdoe said chronic malnutrition remained the most critical development challenges in Sierra Leone, with over 300,000 children under the age of five had been suffering from chronic malnutrition.
According to a survey conducted in 2010 by the UNICEF, one third of children below five years were chronically malnourished, 7 percent acutely malnourished whilst 10 percent under weight.
If immediate remedies were not taken, the UNICEF official said, a large proportion of the next generation of children would not live up to their full physical and mental potential.
She urged the Sierra Leonean government to accelerate progress in reducing child hunger and malnutrition as they were central in the United Nations millennium development goals in the West African country and to ensure long term economic growth and social stability.
Malnutrition was the leading cause of child death and morbidity in Sierra Leone and one of the resultant effects which limit the physical, mental and emotional development of children and adults thereby restricting the potential economic and social development of Sierra Leone.
According to UNICEF research, Sierra Leone has the highest child mortality rate in the world and children represent about a third of the country’s population.
In April, the government introduced the free health care for lactating mothers, pregnant women and children under five to address the high rate of children mortality and morbidity.
The government has also introduced a school feeding program to help enhance the nutrition status of the children.
However, the government effort is yet to make any significant impact.
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