Nutrition/malnutrition

The nutritional gain an infant receives from being breast feed versus by formula in a bottle is evident. Access to clean water can be linked to having a better nutrition and even if an infant does have the proper immunizations, if malnourished, he/she may not enough body reserve to protect itself from even common diseases. The public health measure that impacts children’s development all over this world is malnutrition. If chronic, it hinders brain and body development.

This topic of malnutrition is meaningful to me because both my parents came from an upbringing of poverty and malnutrition. My grandmother told me the hardships she went through as to have two of her children die due to not having the proper nutrition to help them fight off an illness.

More than half of Afghanistan’s children under the age of five do not get enough to eat, leading to developmental problems. They are a still developing nation with war making it harder to find abundance of food to eat. In comparison to the United Sates where the percent of malnourished children is less, sadly parents induce their young to poor food selections like fast food/junk food diets that have poor nutritional value.

This topic has and will continue to impact my work.  Since my family has experienced deaths and the pain associated with the deaths due to malnutrition, I feel I need to inform as many families of the risks they are taking in not providing adequate nutrition to themselves and to their children. I have created a reference and referral folder that I share with families that need support in these areas. An example of this is that I link families with food drive centers and agencies that provide nutritional guidance within the community. Improving the well-being of infants, children and their families has become important public health goal for me.