Tanzania’s panacea for its stunted children here

Onesmo Mllela, Director of Nutrition Education and Planning for Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC), says 2.7 million children below five years constituting 34.7 percent of the population of children in this group are too short for their age (stunted). According to the 2012 census, Tanzania has not less that 45 million people. This indeed puts the gravity of the problem quite into perspective.

Mllela says each stunted child tells a five year story of inadequate intake of food, child care practices and health centers, and lack of a balanced diet causing his or her stunting.
Why must we prevent stunted children?

The World Health Organization (WHO) observes that if stunting is not treated, it can cause death, poor cognitive development and children's poor performance in school.

Elaborating on the relationship between nutrition and child brain development, Stella Kimambo, a nutrition specialist based in Dodoma says the first 1000 days of a child; of which 270 days are spent in the womb, are vital for the growth of a child.

According to Kimambo, macronutrient malnutrition occurring within these first 1000 days of child growth reduces intelligence quotient between 10 to 15 and that the damage caused is unrepairable.

Moreover, the government spends about Sh1.16 trillion annually on malnutrition-related diseases in the country as put out by the ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children.

Yet, with the government's commitment and use of multi-sectoral efforts involving the public and private players, child stunt is preventable, especially because Tanzania has important resources for curbing the problem such as huge fertile land and common language Kiswahili.

With this in mind, it is thus evident that the most importantthingis for the government of President John Magufuli to declare its government commitment to curb 0-5 child stunting so that actors can play their roles with confidence towards the government development agenda.

How to avoid stunted children in Tanzania
Efforts should be put in by the ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, the Elderly and Children (Minister Ummy Mwalimu).

This sector can solicit financial support from UNICEF, UNDP and WHO and embark on initiatives to enable each village in the country obtain functioning dispensaries which among other roles, provide education to expectant or lactating mothers and villagers in general on appropriate nutrition intake.

Neema Joshua, a nutritionist from TFNC, says 0-5 child malnutrition can be preventedby increasing the capacity of the health care workers, changing community behavior towards nutrition practicesand public awareness on proper nutrition and changing community behavior towards nutrition practices. For example rice, fish, vegetable, a piece of avocado and a glass of yoghourt can make nutritious meal for a pregnant woman.

Likewise, the Health ministry can continue collaborating with global partners and local Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) working on mother and child care to improve nutrition for under-five children.

Such initiatives include the World Food Programme (WFP) cash transfer pilot project in Mtwara region where by households with pregnant and lactating mothers received a monthly transfer of US$10 each through Vodacom’s mobile money platform.

This programme was launched because ‘many women in Mtwara complained that they could not attend clinics because they do not have money to come to clinics and get information about proper feeding practices’’ noted Rogers Wanyama, Programme Policy Officer, WFP.

Additionally, Health ministry can expand the WFP cash project and create a provide voucher or food incentives tailored to women who attend clinics with balanced food nutrient problems. These projects can target first thefive regions mostly affected by stunting namely Kigoma, Kagera, Dodoma, Mbeya and Mwanza as indicated by the Tanzania National Nutrition Survey 2014.

On the other hand, the Ministry for Works, Transport and Communication headed by Hamad Masauni in collaboration with the Ministry in the President’s Office Regional Administration, Local Government, Civil Service and Good Governance spearheaded by Ministers George Simbachawene and Angela Kariuki also have a role to play.

For example, these ministries can form a joint inter-ministerial team whose main objective is to liaise with village leaderships and encourage them to mobilise villagers to revive voluntary communal work spirit to ensure roads connecting villages and sub-villages are accessible throughout the year.

In fact, leadership at grassroots level can make a huge resource contribution to the country's development if they are informed what they are required to do and for whose benefit and their efforts recognised and appreciated.

This can be achieved for example if the ministry of health decides to use respective leadership in the regions and districts to identify villages with no health facilities. Similarly, the two ministries, the Ministry of Transport and Local government can use the same strategy to identify villages with serious problems on inter-village road networks.

Then the three ministries can link up together using their offices in the wards, districts and regions to identify villages which will have made a huge progress in addressing the problems.

For example ten or twenty villages in each region every year can be recognised nationally through a joint press conference organised by the three ministries and TFNC and be given a certificate of recognition and appreciation.

In this way, not only will the village leaders and villagers be mobilized to do more, but also wards, districts and regions levels will be motivated to continue doing better work every year ahead.