Malnutrition in Zambia

Today we have two babies in the ward at our clinic. They are malnourished.

Our images of African countries are civil war, famine and refugee camps. Some of my friends think I can't access food in Africa, but Zambia is not a country like Somalia. We can access food. However, we can find malnourished children here. There are several reasons.

First, the poor infrastructure of logistics. They don't have enough logistic network in rural areas. Even in my village, Namwianga, we don't have public transportation to town where we can buy meat. When we want to go to town, we should hitchhike or walk for 1 hour. In other small villages, especially in the bush, it's very difficult to access a variety of food.

The second reason is that a Zambian diet lacks diversity. They eat the same menu every day. Nshima is their staple food made by maize. They eat nshima and some vegetables. People who can afford to buy meat, eat chicken, beef or mutton. Beans and small dried fish, called "kapenta", are more inexpensive source of protein. But, they don't eat protein with every meal. Especially in the bush, they consume protein 1 time a day or spend the whole day without it.

The third reason is lack of knowlege about nutrition. In developed countries, we learn about nutrition in school and mass media provides information about a good diet. So we can be "health conscious" people. But in Zambia, because of the poor education system and mass media, they don't know enough about nutrition. They don't pay attention to what they eat. I think these reasons cause child malnutrition.

In Japan I worked to reduce obesity, here I should do the opposite.