“Good Nutrition is the foundation of a child’s survival, health, and development”
What are your insights on this quote?
Good nutrition is crucial for children to grow up healthy and strong. It aids in building immunity against numerous diseases, ensuring proper formation of vital organs in the body, and boosting a child’s activity and functioning.
The role of nutrition is important especially during the first 1000 days of a child as this offers a window opportunity in shaping their development. Studies have shown that during this period, the brain grows quicker compared to other stages of our life. Hence, the child needs enough nutrients in order to supplement their brain’s development. Moreover, it is also the time where a child has greater susceptibility to infections. With this, nutrients strengthen our immune system by serving as an antioxidant to protect healthy cells, supporting immune cells and producing antibodies. As such, it is critical for children to establish healthy eating habits and correct nutritional knowledge as these may be potentially applied throughout their lives, which may then set a path on how they will take care of themselves in the future.
However, I think that good nutrition for all children is hard to attain especially in a third world country where poverty is a primary concern. According to UNICEF (2019), 95 children in the Philippines die from malnutrition per day. 27 out of 1000 do not live past their 5th birthday. Additionally, ⅓ of Filipino children are either stunted or short in comparison to others of the same age. Thus, it is urgent to build on the existing policies and laws. The government must improve their coordination, planning and budgeting systems in order to effectively reduce our country’s high malnutrition rate.
Reference:
UNICEF. (2019). Child Survival. Unicef.org. https://www.unicef.org/philippines/child-survival#:~:text=Every%20day%2C%2095%20children%20in,permanent%2C%20irreversible%20and%20even%20fatal.