Holystic Nutrition Organization, an Obuasi-Based non-profit organisation committed to the prevention and management of childhood malnutrition, has provided food relief boxes to some vulnerable children in Obuasi.
The initiative formed part of its mid-year food relief support project aimed at mitigating food insecurity and to prevent malnutrition among beneficiaries – 34 vulnerable children from 28 households covering 13 communities within Obuasi.
They are children who had previously been treated for acute malnutrition by the organisation under its SMALCHILD (Save the Malnourished Child) Programme.
According to UNICEF’s first Report on Child Food Poverty, one in four children under five years (181 million children) experience severe child food poverty, making them up to 50 percent more likely to experience wasting – a life-threatening form of malnutrition, with irreversible negative impact on their survival, growth and brain development.
A whopping 65 per cent of these 181 million children live in just 20
countries including Ghana, where about 657,000 children under five years are chronically malnourished according to the World Food Programme.
Each food relief box presented to the beneficiaries contained 5kg rice, a create of eggs, a liter of vegetable oil, tomato paste, beans, gari, spaghetti, mackerel, milk powder and fortified cereal mix (TomVita X and Tombrown) worth GHC 500.00.
Mr. Sampson Kawuo, the Chief Nutritionist of the Organisation, said the children are at a very high risk of relapsing into malnutrition and therefore their nutrition must be safeguarded.
‘With the ongoing economic challenges and associated food inflation, it is very critical to protect the vulnerable, especially children, from food insecurity and malnutrition, which will push their households further down the poverty line,’ Mr David Ameyaw, Founder of Holystic Nutrition Organization, said.
Madam Akua Abi, a 66-year-old woman caring for her orphaned grandson, expressed her gratitude for the support, saying that, ‘This food rel
ief box means a lot to me because sometimes I have nothing to feed this boy since I am economically unproductive.’
In such situations I become afraid that he will go back to that bad situation again, but the frequent timely intervention and support of this NGO has kept this boy alive and well,’ she added.
Other beneficiaries also expressed how the rising food cost is affecting their ability to secure nutritious food for their children and praised the NGO for their timely support.
Since 2017, Holystic Nutrition Organization has supported the nutrition of over 12,000 children across the Obuasi East and West Districts.
The mission of the NGO is to secure GDP for every child – an equal opportunity to grow physically, develop cognitively and prosper economically by ensuring equitable access to food, nutrition, and health care.
Since its inception, the Organization has successfully treated over 400 children for acute malnutrition via its weekly SMALCHILD clinic and community outreaches and provided food reli
ef to thousands.
It strives to be a leading organisation in the prevention and management of childhood malnutrition in Africa.
Source: Ghana News Agency