Child malnutrition cases balloon in Old Naledi
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday January 13, 2016 15:27
Yesterday, councillors heard that of the council’s 15 clinics, Old Naledi consistently had malnutrition cases above the three percent target set by the Ministry of Health. The percent refers to the number of cases recorded when patients visit clinics.
A report tabled by the Urban Development Committee says Old Naledi Clinic reported malnutrition rates of 11.3 and 4.8 percent in January and February 2015 respectively. The report covers January to September 2015.
During that period, the clinic met the target once, recording 2.9 percent in June. Addressing councillors, principal economist, Tebogo Tshoswane said the cases were of grave concern.
“The under nutrition is still a concern as it affects the children’s growth,” he said. “They are bound to face health consequences in future.” Tshoswane said the report showed that some parents were not doing enough to take care of their children.
“The cases in Old Naledi could be linked to lack of food rations in facilities, but the nutrition rehabilitation clinic is working hard to address this issue,” he added. “The problem is some parents neglect their children because of drunkenness, while others do not have food to provide for kids. Gaborone is generally doing well in 14 clinics and we are engaging other stakeholders to try to resolve or address the Old Naledi situation.”
He also said council management should work hard to supply food rations such as tsabana, beans and malutu on time in all clinics but giving priority to Old Naledi. During the last quarter of last year, only oil and malutu were supplied.
Tshoswane said challenges include inconsistency in delivering food rations to clinics because of long tendering processes, shortage of transport for regular follow-up in facilities and high number of malnutrition cases.
He pleaded with councillors, dikgosi and other community leaders to help solve the malnutrition problem.
About 12, 000 child are expected to attend child welfare clinic but usually between 11,300 and 11,500 turn up.