20 Feb 2024

Back in the day, Botswana had its roots in relief efforts where supplementary feeding was administered through health facilities, with efforts to improve the nutrition of children under five years of age. 

In an interview with the Public Relations Officer for Greater Gaborone District Health Management Team (DHMT), Ms Gofaone Mosu, said direct feeding was a programme whereby clinically identified children were brought to a health facility to have a meal, hence they were able to beat the rise of malnutrition in Botswana. 

Ms Mosu said children were brought daily for a supplementary meal and they were weighed every two weeks and were discharged upon recovery. 

She noted that the menu entailed malutu and beans. 

She said malnutrition situation for Greater Gaborone DHMT was at 2.5 per cent. Children under six months with acute malnutrition were referred to the Princess Marina Hospital for further management by the dieticians. The Greater Gaborone DHMT provided health talks about infant and young children’s feeding schemes. 

She said in Gaborone all under-fives are given ration, but children with severe acute malnutrition are enrolled in a programme called Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAN) and are given ready to eat Therapeutic Food (RUTF). 

She said severe underweight children are given double ration and parents are also taught on nutritious foods that can be given to the children at home. 

She explained that the direct feeding initiatives were stopped because some parents did not help during cooking, as some parents wanted incentives; some were stealing food and that some care giving was skewed to malnourished child hence negligence of non-malnourished children especially those who were from the same household. 

Ms Mosu said signs of malnutrition include weight loss, lack of appetite or interest in food or drink, tiredness and irritability, as well as inability to concentrate. 

She said the child will be always feeling cold, lose fat muscle mass and body tissue. 

On the shortage of ration of Tsabana, beans and cooking oil, she explained that the ration procurement and supply was the responsibility of Food Resource, adding that the challenges that they experience range from tendering processes and some suppliers who do not supply after winning the tender. 

Remembering the old days, an elderly Ms Chaekwa Tafa said those were the good old days. 

Having worked as Mmaboitekanelo in the early 80s in the North East, she reminisces that there was never a day she felt heavy when thinking about going back to work. 

“I looked forward to go to work knowing that there will be happy parents who would have gathered for the sake of their children’s’ health. At the clinic that I worked for more than 30 years, some parents had volunteered to make a garden so they grew vegetables, such as chomolia, spinach, watermelons, peanuts, tomatoes, depending on the seasons, and they would take turns watering the garden. They would use the vegetables to make palatable food for their children.” 

Ms Tafa said some parents would bring wood, to make fire to cook and then feed their children to fight malnutrition. 

She added: “Some parents would even bring eggs from their reared chickens so that they share a voluptuous breakfast,” she said, adding that the children would recover fast as they were eating balanced diet. 

“So we were able to kick malnutrition out of the village.

“I believe it was a question of laziness because back then food was plenty and people could share,” she said, “and there was absolutely no reason for any child to be malnourished, but nevertheless there were few cases of malnutrition.”

Ms Tafa urged parents to feed their children balanced diet meals saying for parents that were breastfeeding, they should in turn eat well balanced meals so that the milk will have all the nutrients needed for the baby to grow well. Ends