Avenui E.P. Basic School Children Underweight, Adults Overweight

Professor Emeritus Euisook Kim Yonsei University in South Korea has observed that many elementary pupils of the Avenui Evangelical Presbyterian Basic School in the Ho West District of the Volta region were suffering from malnutrition and underweight.

He said adults in the community also tended to be overweight.

She therefore called on parents and guardians to pay attention to the nutritional needs of their children for their holistic development.

Professor Kim made the observation in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the end of a three day health fair, a collaboration between the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) School of Nursing and Midwifery (SoNaM) and the Yonsei Univeristy at Avenui.

She said paying particular attention to the nutrition of children from a tender age helped them stay healthy and develop mentally and physically throughout their life.

Professor Kim said it was necessary for parents and guardians to understand the importance of a good balanced diet for their wards to avoid obesity and weight-related infections, while providing sufficient energy intake for proper growth and development.

She advised parents to serve as good role models for their children in their dietary needs and be moderate enough not to over-deliver.

Professor Ernestina Donkor, Dean, SoNaM, UHAS, said the health fair was to deepen the relationship the University had with the community and to help organise a health assessment for people in the farming community.

She lauded the cooperation between the two universities and underscored the importance of the community outreach, which was intended to serve as practical exercise for students and health check for the locals.

Professor Hyeonkyeong Lee, Associate Dean, Yonsei University and President of the Global Korean Nursing Foundation, said the collaboration between them had helped students from both universities gain a global health experience outside the confines of the classroom.

The school children were taken through processes of resuscitation, dental hygiene and handwashing during the three-day community outreach.

Students from the universities were also exposed to workings of the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound, the various health facilities and home visitation by health workers.

---GNA