Thrust on reducing malnutrition to achieve MDGs
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
FE Report
Speakers at a seminar Monday emphasised reducing malnutrition of children to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
They also said proper food for the children must be ensured for eradicating malnutrition from the country.
They said these at a national seminar on findings of "Community Case Management of Severe Malnutrition in Southern Bangladesh: an Operational Effective Study" in the city.
Prof Dr Shah Monir Hossain, director general of Health Services, and Dr Abul Mansur Khan, director (planning and research) of Health Services, were present at the seminar as the chief guest and the special guest respectively.
Save the Children organised the seminar, which was presided over by its country director Kelland Stevenson.
Shah Monir Hossain said though a large number of people of all ages in the country are still suffering from acute malnutrition because of extreme poverty and low literacy, we can gradually change the scenario through strong government drive and other initiatives.
Prof Fatema Parveen Chowdhury, director of Institute of Public Health and Nutrition (IPHN), urged the organisations working for children to work with sincerity so that their target group may be uplifted.
New research on acute malnutrition (SAM) shows that community-based care for children with a life-threatening form of malnutrition can have cost-effective and high quality results in rural Bangladesh.
The study also said SAM can be treated with ready-to-use therapeutic foods, but the challenge is to take this treatment to the children of poor households and in remote areas with limited access to formal healthcare facilities.
Save the Children, in partnership with the Feinstein International Centre of Tufts University, recently completed a one-year study in Bhola district, which suggests that when SAM is diagnosed and treated at the community-level, more malnourished children can be recovered.
Speakers at a seminar Monday emphasised reducing malnutrition of children to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
They also said proper food for the children must be ensured for eradicating malnutrition from the country.
They said these at a national seminar on findings of "Community Case Management of Severe Malnutrition in Southern Bangladesh: an Operational Effective Study" in the city.
Prof Dr Shah Monir Hossain, director general of Health Services, and Dr Abul Mansur Khan, director (planning and research) of Health Services, were present at the seminar as the chief guest and the special guest respectively.
Save the Children organised the seminar, which was presided over by its country director Kelland Stevenson.
Shah Monir Hossain said though a large number of people of all ages in the country are still suffering from acute malnutrition because of extreme poverty and low literacy, we can gradually change the scenario through strong government drive and other initiatives.
Prof Fatema Parveen Chowdhury, director of Institute of Public Health and Nutrition (IPHN), urged the organisations working for children to work with sincerity so that their target group may be uplifted.
New research on acute malnutrition (SAM) shows that community-based care for children with a life-threatening form of malnutrition can have cost-effective and high quality results in rural Bangladesh.
The study also said SAM can be treated with ready-to-use therapeutic foods, but the challenge is to take this treatment to the children of poor households and in remote areas with limited access to formal healthcare facilities.
Save the Children, in partnership with the Feinstein International Centre of Tufts University, recently completed a one-year study in Bhola district, which suggests that when SAM is diagnosed and treated at the community-level, more malnourished children can be recovered.