02 May 2017

Greater Francistown District Health Management Team’s community health nurse, Ms Sekani Chikunyana has urged parents to make it their responsibility to know the vaccines their infants must be given at an earlier stage.

Speaking during the 7th African Vaccination Week recently, she said it was vital for every child to get vaccine for prevention against certain diseases according to their age.

She said missing vaccines put the life of the infant at risk of getting the disease, thereby affecting its development.

Ms Chikunyana encouraged parents to read their infants medical cards and ensure that they do not miss any of the vaccines.

She further urged them to monitor their infants’ behaviour as they grow so that they could consult health professionals, should they notice anything suspicious.

Greater Francistown DHMT nutritionist, Ms Malebogo Osupile urged parents to feed their infants healthy food, emphasising that they should make sure they eat the food they get from the clinic every month when they go for weighing as such food have been recommended for a purpose.

“Tsabana, beans and malutu are meant for those infants to give them proper nutrition needed for their healthy development, therefore they must eat them,” she said.

She further emphasised that malnutrition was real and infants in some parts of the world die because of it.

She commended parents who brought their infants to the clinic to get vaccinations or when they are sick to get medical attention, saying it showed the love and dedication to the wellbeing of their children.

She said in the past parents preferred taking the infants to traditional doctors when they were sick, which trend, according to their observation, has changed and has saved many lives.

Ms Osupile further urged parents to meet government halfway as it was dedicated to a healthy generation by providing the necessary health vaccines and food at the health facilities.

Further, senior nurse at Area L Health Post, Ms Gontlafetse Obakeng encouraged parents to make use of the provided government schedule for the vaccinations and participate in the campaigns health officers usually hold.

She urged them to take care of the infants’ utensils as to avoid  diarrhoea.

She urged them to always sterilise them, especially those who use bottles for formula feeding.

In addition, she recommended breast milk as the best as it contains antibodies needed for healthy growth of the baby.

She urged parents to introduce soft solid foods to infants at six months.

She recommended foods such as; soft porridge with milk, peanut butter, mashed butternut, canned beef and other healthy foods.

However, she discouraged feeding infants with sugary snacks such as sweets, biscuits and tea, saying it suppresses their appetite.

She further discouraged the use of pacifier, saying it disturbed their eating pattern, delayed the tooth development and could cause diarrhoea. ENDS