Editorial
No optimal diet for majority
Food habit needs to be changed
Adequate intake of food is essential for maintaining the nutritional level and ensuring proper growth of a person, especially during the formative years in childhood. But a survey report says that only 4 per cent of the households in the rural areas of Bangladesh can afford optimal or balanced food. And because of this reason about 39 per cent of under-five children suffer from malnutrition-related complications such as stunted growth. The survey, conducted by Helen Keller International (HKI) in collaboration with the Institute of Public Health Nutrition (IPHN) further reveals that people in the rural areas spend 60 per cent of their total earning on food. This is well-accepted reality that malnutrition compounds the causes of child mortality, and poor health of the adult population in Bangladesh. According to one UNICEF study, prominent among the underlying causes of malnutrition in the country are the inability of the people to grow or purchase sufficient food for sustenance. The added contributory factors are poor maternal and child-care practices and inadequate provision of food for adolescent girls and pregnant women. But at the same time we find in another report of the same UN organisation that Bangladesh made impressive progress in reducing malnutrition between 1990 and 2000, as a result of which the proportion of underweight children fell from 66.6 per cent to 51.1 per cent, and the level of child stunting fell from 65.5 per cent to 48.8 per cent. It has been estimated by experts that at that rate the percentage of underweight and stunted children will be halved by 2015. We believe that besides ensuring access to food for all, social researchers should also come up with recommendations for creating mass level awareness regarding the nutritional value of different types of food such as vegetables, small fish, seasonal fruits, poultry and so on with special emphasis on changing the traditional food habit. Government and non-governmental organisations working in the relevant field should give efforts to popularise alternative foods among the rural population through encouraging poultry raising and setting up kitchen gardens in every household. We strongly believe that proper planning by the authorities concerned can significantly improve the rural food production and consumption situation in the country.
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