Mami en Pikin Welbodi Week

Yesterday we participated in a fair for the kickoff of the mom and child health week (in krio it is called Mami en Pikin Welbodi Week) in Freetown. Mike and I were there representing Project Peanut Butter. All the organizations that work on behalf of the mothers and children of Sierra Leone came to explain their programs and give hands-on demonstrations to the mothers that attended. There were presentations on safe handwashing, malaria prevention, HIV/AIDS prevention, blood pressure testing, good complementary feeding examples, safe feeding habits and many more.

The mom and child health week is done by the Ministry of Health in order to raise awareness of the major issue of the child mortality rate in Sierra Leone. In this country, one out of every four children will die before his or her fifth birthday. This makes Sierra Leone the country with the highest child mortality rate in the world. 40% of these children are dying from malnutrition. Others are dying from preventable illnesses such as diarrhea, measles, and malaria.

It is an exciting time to be working in the field of nutrition in Sierra Leone. Since the government has made child nutrition a national priority, many organizations are collaborating in order to eradicate malnutrition in the country. Let us continue to pray that God will grant the organizations involved the ability to help the families of Sierra Leone help their children.