ALCOHOL ABUSE CONTRIBUTES TO INCREASED CHILD DISEASE

 

The Manager of Save the Chidren in Iringa region, John Masenza, talking to participants at a stakeholder meeting on ways to reduce sustainability in Iringa region.

 

 

 

By Fredy Mgunda, Iringa, Tanzania

 

ALCOHOL ABUSE and lack of nutrition education for some people in Iringa region have been cited as causing stunts in young children due to many parents not paying attention to providing them with nutritious food.

 

Speaking at a stakeholder meeting to find a way to solve the problem of growing stagnation, Save the Chidren NGO manager in Iringa John Masenza said the people of Iringa region are drinking heavily and forget about food for his family.

 

He said that Iringa region is one of the regions that produces the most food but the biggest problem has been for the people to sell the produce and go to drink alcohol while forgetting its responsibility to provide children with nutritious food.

 

Masenza said that when people drink too much alcohol they often forget about eating because they are already drunk and even forget to cook for the young children he left at home.

 

"There has been a pattern of parenting in clubs or on the mainland with young children and drinking alcohol which causes children to lose their appetite and cause stunting in the child" said Masenza

 

Masenza said the USAID sustainable nutrition project is committed to ensuring that it contributes to reducing stunting in children under five with the aim of improving various nutritional systems.

 

He said that the goal of USAID's sustainable nutrition project is to ensure that they reduce stunting by 15 percent by providing education and improving the various systems that exist in the areas where the project is being implemented.

 

For his part, the acting administrative secretary of Iringa region, Elia Luvanda said that Iringa region ranks third nationally in regions that are under the care of young children due to many citizens lacking nutrition education.

 

Luvanda said that the state of stunting for young children in Iringa region is at 47 percent. This situation is not good for the development of having a better generation in the future so they are determined to ensure they improve government systems to provide nutrition education to all citizens.

 

Kilolo district nutrition officer in Iringa region Fanuel Nyandwike said that the district has a serious problem of many children having malnutrition and leading to increased sustainability of children in the district.

 

He said that the main reason for the increase in stamina was due to many parents becoming alcoholics and forgetting the responsibilities of raising a child by providing him with nutritious food that would encourage child neglect.

 

Nyandwike said that the leadership of Kilolo District Council is committed to ensuring that every village has a by-law to control sustainability by forcing parents to focus on providing children with nutritious food.