Some mothers in Kaltungo Local Government Area are championing child health through exclusive breastfeeding and nutritious complementary meals.
During a field visit to PHCC Kalargu in Kaltungo Local Government Area, supported by UNICEF Bauchi Field Office our correspondent Rebecca Caleb Maina had an encounter with a woman named Samira Yakubu with her chubby 11-month-old baby and asked about the child’s robust health secret.
Samira Yakubu attributed her baby’s health to exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and receiving guidance from experts at the facility on preparing nutritious complementary meals.
She explained that she learned to prepare meals using locally available nutritious foods such as orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, beans, pumpkin, and soya beans milk.
Comparing her exclusively breastfed daughter to her non-exclusively breastfed sister, she noted the stark difference in their health statuses saying her breastfed daughter rarely falls ill, while her non-breastfed sister often does.
When asked about the availability of these nutritious foods, Samira emphasised that they are all locally grown in their area.
Hussaina Ibrahim, another mother with a twelve-month-old son also shared her experience of exclusively breastfeeding her son for the first six months, followed by the introduction of complementary feeding with locally available nutritious foods.
Husaina emphasised the importance of starting complementary feeding at six months with nutritious foods saying she began by offering her son a little water, followed by complementary nutritious foods.
The women mentioned that they received orange-fleshed sweet potato seedlings for free and grew them in their backyard and sacs, harvests and processes them .
Oliver Jahoida Bawa, a nutrition trainer specialising in the preparation of nutritious food, shared a personal testimony regarding the transformative effects of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes on vision health.
She revealed that her son, who frequently suffered from red eyes and itching, experienced significant improvement after incorporating orange-fleshed sweet potatoes into their diet.
Inspired by this success, Jahoida herself began consuming the nutritious tuber, which alleviated her own eye problems
To maximize the benefits of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, Jahoida explained that she processes them into flour and incorporates them into various meals.
She combines the sweet potato flour with other grains such as red millet, rice, and soya beans to ensure a balanced diet rich in vitamin A.
Her cooking methods Jahoida explained include frying, making porridge, or consuming the sweet potatoes raw and utilises the leaves of the sweet potato plant to prepare nutritious soups, further enhancing the nutritional value of their meals.
The women during the interviews, urged the government to provide support to farmers, particularly women engaged in orange-fleshed sweet potato farming.
They emphasized the need for assistance to boost production in both dry and wet seasons by providing irrigation materials noting that orange-fleshed sweet potatoes require significant water resources, making irrigation crucial for their cultivation.
Furthermore, they highlighted the necessity of supplying seedlings to farmers to ensure adequate planting material for cultivation.
By supporting farmers with essential resources, such as irrigation materials and seedlings, they said the government can facilitate increased production of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, a nutritious staple crop to not only home consumption but commercial purposes as well
The women advocated for the extension of complementary feeding campaign practices to all health facilities across the state as it educate caregivers on the importance of providing nutritious complementary foods to infants and young children, starting at six months of age.
By expanding these campaigns the women noted, more families can access vital information and resources to prevent malnutrition among children.
The women’s call to action underscores the importance of government support in promoting agricultural productivity and ensuring access to essential nutrition education and resources for caregivers, ultimately contributing to the prevention of malnutrition among children in the state.
