The health authorities in Mozambique are concerned that 37% of the country’s children are chronically malnourished.
This alarming increase is made even more disturbing by the youth of Mozambique’s lack of access to healthcare and inadequate educational prospects, posing serious challenges to the overall development of Mozambique’s youth.
“These are children whose first five years of life are marked by hunger and, often, associated with illness, they are the same ones whose minds are not stimulated, lack of appropriate interaction and have fewer opportunities to perform well at school,” explained Humberto Rodrigues, representative of the National Directorate of Public Health.
Civil society organizations are calling for the implementation of a National Early Childhood Policy in response.
Such a policy, according to advocates, could aid in overcoming the difficulties in the way of development.
“If we had a law, we would have all the guidelines on how we could have a programme, financing, a communication system and how to involve parents and guardians in order to provide children with better security,” explained Gertrudes Noronha, representative of the Early Childhood Development Network.
The Ministry of Health, Gender, Children, and Social Action met with partners on Thursday in the country’s capital, Maputo, to discuss issues relating to early childhood development, which covers the period from birth to age eight.
Source-BBC
