Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Malnutrition



Malnutrition is a large problem that sticks out in my mind that is a problem sometimes within the United States. Since I work in an inner city school I often happen to see children that are not getting proper nutrition and are not properly cared for. This is tough to see especially at such a young age when the children are growing and need the proper nutrients. I am happy that in the county I teach in all children for at least two meals a day they are getting the proper nutrients. Our school offers free breakfast to all students and most students receive a free lunch as well. Our school is meeting the current standards to ensure that children are getting a healthy meal at school. I wish that somehow every child could also be receive at least one more meal that provides them with the proper nutrition at home as well.

As bad as things sometime may appear they are often a lot worse in other countries. Child malnutrition is one such problem. Many people don’t realize that this is a huge problem even at places as close to home as Haiti. Since the earthquake in Haiti the hunger situation has become even worse than it was before. In Haiti 67% of the population will go without food for days on end. Haiti president is funding a school program that will supply proper food to 2.2 million children. The problem being that is only about half of the children population that in Haiti that is attending school.

After reading about the situation in Haiti it made me very happy to live in a country that has enough food supply for everyone. There are also many sources like food kitchens as well as our school systems that are able to provide food to our children to prevent malnutrition. This also made me realize that no matter what time a child appears at school we should do our best to make sure they are still given the free breakfast they are entitled to since we do not know when the last time they receive a proper meal was. Children need proper food to give their body the appropriate nutrients. It is our job as educators to make sure this is taking place when the students are in your environment.
Reference
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/haiti-hunger-children_n_3420959.html

2 comments:

  1. I work in a Preschool and the children at my center receive three meals a day. It breaks my heart to see how some children come in starving and can eat as much as an adult. The lunch we serve them has all their bread, fruit, vegetable and meat. Every child should have three meals a day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post! In my county most children receive free breakfast and lunch as well if their parents don’t go over a certain income bracket. I believe regardless of their income children should still receive free meals because you don’t know what families are going through. A lot of children only receive meals when they are at school because their family can’t afford to buy it. I’m grateful as well that we live in a country where we have more than enough food supply. It’s shocking to see that percentage so high about families in Haiti going without food for numerous days.

    ReplyDelete