Emeritus Professor Bede Ibe, has urged governments, community and families to focus on home-made nutritional food to check rising child malnutrition and stunted growth in most communities in the country.
Ibe said this on Thursday in Enugu at the 12th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Nigerian Association of Paediatric, Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NAPGHAN).
Key Highlights:
Don urges Nigerians to promote home-made nutritious foods for children.
He says foreign packaged foods are costly and unsustainable.
He recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months.
Experts want indigenous solutions and policies to tackle malnutrition.
The conference also discussed Hepatitis B and child health.
The four-day meeting and scientific conference has the theme: “Global Evidence, Local Solutions: Advancing Paediatric, Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition in Nigeria.”
Ibe, who recently retired from the Department of Paediatric, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), said that the reliance on foreign packaged or therapeutic food is not in the best interest of the Nigerian child and not sustainable as well.
According to him, the economic downtown affecting families has led to rising malnutrition and stunted growth among children advising that the situation the can become advantageous by looking inwards.
“First, we must strengthen our exclusive breastfeeding system and in about six months introduce home-made complementary food to the breastfed child.
“Once matured enough, home-made or cooked food with all the local food components, vegetables and fruits be given to children as they go to school and even in school where school feeding is available.
“For a situation where malnutrition treatment is required, it should be done with home-made foods.
“Government st various levels, organizations and communities can support local industries to produce therapeutic foods and snacks rich in local nutrition and fibres to keep the child growth optimal and balanced.
“This will encourage farming and food production as industries will turn these local foods to therapeutic foods and snacks that families and even children can easily buy and eat for optimal health,” he said.
The professor said that there is no where in the world a government and people watch donors impose a type of foreign-packaged food on them, instead they should support Nigeria to provide home-made nutritious foods.
Ibe, who is the keynote speaker at the conference, said that focusing on this would also safe the country of possible futuristic side-effects of the use of foreign therapeutic and ready-made foods.
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Corroborating, the President of NAPGHAN, Prof. Felix Akinbami, said that there is a need for governments to work together with professional associations and bodies to develop indigenous policies and programmes to roll back the rising child malnutrition.
Akinbami noted that the challenge of child malnutrition and stunted growth was increasing since over 50 percent of the country population is under 18 years, harsh economic situation and poor awareness on advantage of home-made foods.
He said that the conference would also deal with the issue of Hepatitis B among children, the gut-brain dysfunctions and a communique would be issued that promote best clinical practices to help treatment in health facilities.
Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the conference, Tony Onyia, said that the conference has been packaged with seasoned panelists from all over world to ensure professional and clinical insight.
Onyia, who is the Deputy Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC) of UNTH, Enugu, said that the conference also provides opportunities for networking and forging new bonds and partnerships.
“We also encourage you to tour around Enugu and admire its rich cultural heritage and the good works of our state government.
“We sincerely thank our sponsors who generously donated their resources towards the successful hosting of this conference as well as the Chief Medical Director of UNTH, Prof. Obinna Onodugo, for his support.
“I appreciate my LOC members for their sacrifice and result-oriented team work,” Onyia, who is the former Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Enugu State, said.
