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Food for Thought

Food for Thought

Date: 2019-11-22

The Roman poet Juvenal is probably best remembered for writing "Mens sana in corpore sano" translated as "a healthy mind in a healthy body" and often used in educational contexts linking physical, mental and psychological well-being. A child's first 1,000 days have a critical impact on their later development and the effects of poor nutrition may be irreversible by the time the child reaches the age of five.

High rates of malnutrition usually result in poor classroom performance and long term stunting or obesity, all of which come at great cost. Obesity often leads to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and many cancers and stunting can result in low brain function and underdeveloped bodies, where a child's height and weight can be significantly below par. The resulting social, medical and monetary implications of a sick generation should not be underestimated.

It was against this background that The Domino Foundation's Feeding programme started providing protein-rich 'meals' for learners in Ethekwini schools and creches. Over the past 15 years, the numbers of learners benefitting from the programme each day have grown to between 5000 and 7000. In late 2017, the programme reached the milestone of having provided over a million meals in the year.

Until recently, the creches had received combinations of sandwiches, soup and porridge. Going forward, instruction in basic nutrition and hygiene by Jabu Nkomo of Isheq Solutions has been included as part of the programme. The Feeding programme has also taken the step to supply the soup ingredients to many of the creches with cooking facilities, empowering them to make their own soup on site, rather than relying on a daily soup delivery from The Domino Foundation. This has freed the ladies who work at the Foundation's Brookdale kitchen to devote part of their working day to base-line weighing and measuring of children. Brookdale Supervisor, Lucky Vilakazi, said, "Our cooking team has been trained to measure and record the children's body mass index (BMI) calculated using a child's weight and height. Each one of our cooking team is now responsible for a number of creches in each area. They will measure each child twice a year, completing ETS assessment forms on them."

Cathy Whittle, leader of the Feeding programme, commented, "It is all very well that we provide a daily meal but we need to ensure creche owners understand how poor nutrition affects their children. Through the BMI of each child we can pick up any obesity or stunting. This opens the door for an intervention either at creche level or with the creche owner teaching the relevant family to make improved choices for their child's long term health."