Nutrition and malnutrition are very
important to me. In my undergrad program I did an internship with the
Department of Children, Youth, and Families doing social work, and witnessed
many malnutrition infants. It was nothing I would have imagined, you see ads
and pictures all the time in the media but when you see a child who has lacked
proper nutrition in person and in your own backyard is very scary. The cases
varied in why the child was malnutrition, some was just neglect but in other
cases it was lack of education of how much a child needs and how often. When I
realized this I had a “light bulb” moment and realized that one not all mothers
have that maternal instinct and two not all mothers know how to be a parent;
whether it was because the were a teen parent or they did not have very good
parenting of their own. In the first
years of life there is a lot of development of the brain and without proper
nutrition then the child is not getting the nutrients they need to have
successful development.
Looking at other countries I was surprised to
find that India is highest ranking in the world for children under five being
malnourished. One and every three children in the world who are malnourished
live in India. The rates of malnourished children in India are two times higher
than in sub-Saharan Africa and ten times higher than in Asia. I was surprised
by these statistics because I was always under the impression that Africa had
the highest percent of children who were malnourished in the world, not to say
that it is not still a problem in Africa. This information was very eye-opening
for me and helps to justify a center policy we have put in place at my child
care center, which is our teachers are not to do activities with children that
is them playing with food because other cultures do not have enough food and
can find it offensive and even in our own country.
References:
Alysse, I was also surprised to know that India has more malnourished children under the age of five than in any other country. I am very curious how India is tackling this challenge and how developed nations are looking at this situation.
ReplyDeleteAlysse, that is very shocking, I know that children born in families which are homeless may suffer from proper nutrition and some rare cases of neglect from parents which I viewed as a form of abuse. However, I wouldn't think it was more cases than those, I assumed the issue in the US was more related to children over eating or eating poorly. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, I also assumed Africa had the highest rate of malnourished children. We rarely if ever see documentaries on Indian children, I wonder why that is.
That is a great point as to not playing with food in the center, I never thought of that. That is an example of being sensitive to diversity, great job!
Alysse,
ReplyDeleteI once watched a presentation on the poverty and lack of resources available to the women and children in India. Did your research provide any current information on initiatives designed to alleviate this issue? Thank you for sharing this information.