Page 77 - EMBRACE Book

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Nutrition

Over five million children die before they reach the age of five. Nearly half of these deaths,
45%, are related to poor nutrition, a preventable cause.

A child’s nutrition begins at conception. Nutrition during the first two years of life plays a
determining factor in the child’s lifelong growth and development.

To help put an end to these preventable deaths, the EMBRACE project trained mothers and
fathers on proper nutrition. The training also stressed the importance of exclusive
breastfeeding for the first six months. It then taught parents which foods to first introduce to
babies, and how to incorporate enough fruits and vegetables into their daily diet.

EMBRACE also trained health care providers on how to properly measure child growth.
Where needed, it provided health care workers with the tools necessary to accomplish this
important monitoring task. The project also trained them on how to counsel families to care
for children showing signs of malnutrition. For the children who were at risk of stunting and
other malnutrition-related issues, the project hosted a supplementary feeding program to help
bring the children out of the danger zone. This program took the opportunity to further
educate parents on proper nutrition and gave cooking demonstrations for delicious, healthy
meals for their children.

Photo: © 2018 ADRA | Michael Kirkby