health

Malnutrition plagues Ngöbe Buglé

Despite educational and food programs, more than 25 percent of indigenous children are malnourished.

Eduardo Espinosa/la prensa

hungry: Ngöbe Buglé children are given a hot breakfast at school.1119297

A year and a half after María Palacios gave birth to her son, she is still attending the nearby health center in Buenos Aires, in the Ngöbe Bugle district. There, she and other mothers wait patiently while nutritionist Doris Carrasco checks the weight and well-being of their young children.

Carrasco said that following several meetings with the indigenous women, they have learned the importance of nutrition in their children’s overall development.

The nutritionist commented that the chief obstacle facing the advancement of children in the region is malnutrition and low school performance.

As she sees it, those two problems go hand in hand. How can you expect the children to get good grades if they come to school on an empty stomach, she asked?

That’s why she is a fan of the government program that provides hot breakfasts for students that make it to class.

“For many, the best thing and most satisfying thing about school is getting to eat, she said.

Carrasco also recommended that indigenous families grow their own food, substituting whole grains and beans for expensive meat products.

“The important thing is to eat foods with high nutrient levels, and they eat rice and beans, because they are a good replacement for meat, which they can not access,” she said.

Regional director of the Ministry of Health for the Ngöbe Buglé district, Guillermo Guerra, explained that his office approaches the situation from a statistics standpoint. On one hand, the incidence of malnutrition among indigenous children has decreased. In 2006, the rate of malnutrition was 45.9 percent. Last year, it dropped to 40.5 percent, and in the first half of this year it fell further to 26.6 percent.

The Ministry of Health estimated that some 5,108 children are at risk of malnutrition in the district of Ñurum, the area where the health center is located, with only 1,522 children found to be healthy. On average, boys and girls in the region are equally affected by deficient diets.

Guerra said that people should not lose sight of the fact that when children are healthy, both the family and the government benefit.

According to Melissa Vázquez, health director for the district of Ñurum, communities that suffer the highest incidences of malnutrition are often those that do not have access to potable water.

“The situation we struggle with in these communities is that, in most cases, water sources do not meet the minimum conditions of safety. Therefore, we must teach children the rules of hygiene such as the treating drinking water, the proper use of latrines and wastewater and garbage management,” she said.

The health official explained that when malnutrition is detected, the child is tested for hemoglobin levels to determine whether treatments are effective.