Nutrition programme educates poor families on maternal, child health
The five-member family of Dulali Roy in Kaharol upazila of Dinajpur depends on agriculture to make ends meet.
Despite having financial constraints in a low-income family, she makes sure her 11-month-old baby gets proper nutrition and grows up in good health. She regularly monitors the height and weight of her baby and records the information on the growth monitoring promotion card.
This awareness of ensuring nutrition for children has been seen among the poor families in other villages of the upazila. Not only after the birth of the child, but women also check their health since conception and regularly receive antenatal care at the nearest community clinic.
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This awareness is the result of the "Gender Mainstreaming in Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition" project of World Vision Bangladesh funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency to contribute to improving nutritional status and reducing the affliction of disease in children under five.
Under the project, which commenced its operation in March 2021 and will continue till December of 2023, almost 1,200 direct beneficiary families, with children under five years and pregnant mothers, have been trained in poultry and quail bird rearing and making nutrition gardens to address malnutrition.
The project has provided food aid (rice, pulses, oil), nutritional supplements to families of malnourished children and essential calcium tablets to pregnant and lactating mothers.
The women were also provided with chickens, quail birds, chicken coops, vegetable seeds and fruit tree seedlings, which made them productive and capable of meeting the nutritional needs of mother and child.
"My baby is 11 months old but weighs seven and a half kilograms which are lower than normal. The doctor has suggested what to feed the child. I am trying to follow the advice," said Duali Roy.
The second daughter of Taslima Begum of Sultanpur village of Taragaon union is seven months old. When she was pregnant, she had regular check-ups in the fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth months. She also started taking iron and calcium tablets and nutritious food to keep her health sound.
"We have cultivated various vegetables including malabar spinach (puishak), red cabbage, and chilli in the fallow land of the house as a source of nutritious food. I have also built a duck farm. At present, I can buy milk for the baby by selling eggs and vegetables," said Taslima.
Swapna Begum from the same village said, "We learnt how to take care of ourselves and the child after the birth of the child through the helper of the project. I also learned about nutritional foods. We regularly go to the nearby community clinic for doctor's advice on baby care."
Project manager Jaganmay Prajesh Biswas told TBS, "Families are being trained under this project in such a way that they know and understand what to eat to meet the nutritional needs of the pregnant mother and child. We create a link with the community clinic of the respective areas with the poor people so that people continue to get the benefits even after the project tenure ends."
