 | This DVD includes 2 films about malnutrition and how it affects children and pregnant mothers. Although the syndromes in each region are different poverty is the root cause of protein energy malnutrition in Nepal and iron deficiency anemia in Niger. | |
This DVD includes two films about malnutrition and how it affects children and pregnant mothers. Although the syndromes in each region are different, poverty is the root cause of protein energy malnutrition in Nepal and iron deficiency anemia in Niger.
Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, and less than a third of its population has access to any health care. Malnutrition remains the main cause of maternal and infant mortality and well over half of all pregnant women suffer from iron deficiency anemia. This program follows two traditional birth attendants as they try to persuade women to take iron folate supplements and visit hospitals, which is often prohibitively expensive. The program also visits Tanzania, where it is malaria that is blamed for the increase in anemia which, in some areas, affects 93 per cent of children under five.
Despite the involvement of the Head of State in promoting micronutrients, the situation in Niger is desperate. There are only 10 qualified nutritionists in the whole country, and drought and uncertain harvests mean that food supplies are precarious. Most people survive on a staple diet of millet, which actually inhibits the absorption of iron, and rural families only manage to eat meat a few times a month.
The second program on this DVD explores how women in Nepal are tackling the vicious cycle of infant malnutrition and poverty. Set in the visually striking valley of Kathmandu, capital city of Nepal viewers are introduced to Dev Kumari, a 42 year old migrant woman who struggles to sustain her large extended family. Her children and grandchildren are locked into an invisible cycle that is crippling Nepal’s development.
Protein Energy Malnutrition, or PEM, not only causes stunting, slow development, disease and death amongst young children today, it also has a disastrous knock on effect on each successive generation – a cycle that is proving hard to break. Through spending time with the Dev and Chief Pediatrician at Patan Hospital viewers learn why nine out of every 10 children in Nepal suffer some form of malnutrition.
© 2001 UNICEF – All Rights Reserved
Total Running Time: 52 Minutes
Produced by TVE.org
With the participation of:
UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund
The Micronutrient Initiative
The Department for International Development UK (DFID)
The Rockefeller Foundation
Health in Sustainable Development – The World Health Organization
United Nations Department for Public Information
United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)
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