Kumasi Child and Maternal hospital records high malnutrition cases

The Child and Maternal Hospital in Kumasi continues to record high rates of malnutrition among children who are brought to the facility for health care.

Presently, 225 children suffering from severe forms of malnutrition were being treated at the Out Patients Department (OPD) while 20 of such children were on admission at the facility.

Mrs Sandra Ama Pomaa Asuming, a Senior Nutrition Officer, made these known when a delegation from the Pregnancy Stress Foundation (PSF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), paid a working visit to the hospital in Kumasi on Wednesday.

The visit was to enable the organisation, which seeks to counsel, protect and promote safe birth and child development, to ascertain the nutritional status of children at the hospital.

Mrs Asuming attributed the high incidence of malnutrition among children to ignorance, poverty and improper breastfeeding at the early stages of their growth.

She said ignorance among some parents on proper dieting affected the growth of their children, especially from the first six months to the 24th month of birth, forcing the children to develop diseases caused by malnutrition.

Improper breastfeeding as a result of poverty among lactating mothers was another underlining factor, which woefully retarded the growth of most developing children.

Mrs Asuming said on its part, the Nutrition Unit of the Hospital was embarking on continuous counseling sessions at the wards, Ante-Natal Clinics (ANC) and weighing units, to educate mothers on the benefits of proper feeding.

Madam Victoria Darko, the Executive Director of PSF Ghana, said the aim of the visit was to find out the nutritional state of the children, and provide financial support to parents to enable them to provide the needed food for their children.

She said the Foundation was setting up a corn milling centre in Kumasi, to help provide nutritional organic foods to the hospital to feed the malnourished children who were receiving treatment.