Child Malnutrition and Obesity on a Rise in Cameroon
December 02, 2005
Child malnutrition and obesity is on a rise in Cameroon. The number of Cameroonian children suffering from chronic malnutrition rose to 35 percent during the past year while child obesity also increased rapidly.
Cameroonian parents are not aware of how to choose the right food items for their children, and so their children continue to suffer from chronic malnutrition at alarming rates. Poverty, low access to drinking water, insufficient breast feeding and high levels of mother-to-child AIDS transmission underlay one of the highest child malnutrition rates in central Africa.
While poverty is responsible for under-nourishment, well-to-do families often over feed their children, raising child obesity rates to 15 percent in the oil-producing West African state. In order to redress the situation, breastfeeding for the children is recommended until they are six months old.
Source:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0270981.htm
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