‘Weighing’ should not stop after child turns two years – Nutritionist

Mr. Samuel Atuahene Antwi, Nutritionist at the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate, has urged mothers and carers of toddlers to continue sending children for "weighing" even when they reach the age of two.

Mr. Antwi stated that, despite the fact that such children were still required to be seen at the clinics for essential care and supervision every six months until they reached the age of five, mothers and carers abruptly stopped taking the immunizations.

He gave the advice during a health promotion dialogue called "Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility," which was organized by the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office to promote health-related communication and provide a platform for health information dissemination in order to influence personal health choices through improved health literacy.

The Tema Regional Office of the Ghana News Agency created the public health advocacy platform "Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility" to research the aspects of four health communication approaches: informing, instructing, persuading, and urging.

Mr. Antwi stated that regular visits to child welfare centers assist health experts in picking up and detecting various flaws in children for early interventions, stating that problems are particularly related to developmental stages such as talking, walking, and others.

He went on to say that the 'weighing' also aids in growth monitoring and promotion because the child's weight is measured and plotted on a gender-appropriate graph to check for normal growth or any deviations.

The Tema Metro Nutritionist criticized the actions of some mothers who bring their children to the welfare clinic, adding that "some mothers come appearing too busy and only want the child to be measured quickly for them to leave."

He reminded them that the clinic was not only for weighing but also for advising on proper child care, as the children's future is dependent on the kind of care they receive as children.

He also stated that mothers are trained on how to properly feed their children, both during the exclusive breastfeeding period and during complementary feeding, and that family planning services, food demonstrations, hygiene, mosquito net use, and birth certificate registration are all available at the child welfare clinics.

Mr. Antwi stated once more that the youngsters receive vitamin A supplements as well as other immunizations to assist avoid illness and infant mortality.

BCG, Hepatitis B, yellow fever, measles-rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, influenza, rotavirus, polio, and meningitis A are among the 13 vaccines children receive by the age of two.

"GNA-Tema Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility" is a public health advocacy platform designed to examine the four techniques of health communication: informing, teaching, persuading, and encouraging according to Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Tema Regional Manager of Ghana News Agency.

According to Mr. Ameyibor, the GNA platform serves as a fantastic communication route for medical practitioners to educate the public about healthy practices and other general health concerns through the weekly health conversation forum.

—CDA Consult II Contributor