MALDIVES / MALNUTRITION

Maldives is on track to achieve almost all Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), yet nearly 17 percent of its children are underweight and up to 19 percent suffer from stunting. UNICEF says this could be because many mothers are not breastfeeding their children. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:33
• Production Date: 26 May 2012
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: HEALTH; NUTRITION; HEALTH SERVICES
• Geographic Subject: MALDIVES
• MAMS Id: U120526b

Description

STORY: MALDIVES / MALNUTRITION
TRT: 2:33
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / MALDIVIAN / NATS

DATELINE: 25 APRIL 2012, MALDIVES

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, Ismail and mother going into a primary health center for check up
2. Med shot, Ismail being checked for weight
3. Close up, scale
4. Med shot, Ismail being checked for height
5. Med shot, Ismail being checked for height
6. Med shot, Ismail being compared to another child his age
7. Medium shot, of Ismail’s parents trying to feed him
8. Med shot, Ismail walking down the street
9. SOUNDBITE (Maldivian) Fathimath Nafsa, Mother:
”He gets very cranky and irritable since he doesn’t eat well. He also cannot sleep properly and this makes him an unhappy child most of the time”
10. Wide shot, streets of Male’
11. Med shot, streets of Male’
12. Med shot, mother & child in a health center in Male’
13. Med shot, child being weighed and measured in the health center
14. Med shot, little girl in green dress
15. Med shot, child’s head circumference measured
16. Med shot, mother giving child a drink
17. Wide shot, clinic interior
18. Close up, child yawning
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Mazeena Jameel, Officer in charge, UNICEF, Maldives:
”Malnutrition and stunting is a big concern for UNICEF, we are working with the government to develop a national nutrition strategic development plan for the next five years, we are also supporting communities and parents to change their attitudes and behavior to address nutrition of their children and we are also monitoring the results of interventions made in the area of nutrition."
20. Wide shot, parents walking with child
21. Close up, mother preparing food
22. Close up, child hair treatment
23. Med shot, Ismail walks on beach with father

Storyline

It’s a routine journey for two year old Ismail, a journey that he is forced to make to the local health center in Maafushi island. The doctors want to monitor his growth, his mother is concerned, Ismail is simply not growing. Undernourished and stunted, Ismail is one of the many Maldivian children who are underweight and do not grow to their full potential. At two years Ismail looks very small compared to children his age.

Being undernourished means, Ismail is cranky and irritated most of the times, he doesn’t eat food easily and doesn’t play with other children

SOUNDBITE (Maldivian) Fathimath Nafsa, Mother:
”He gets very cranky and irritable since he doesn’t eat well. He also cannot sleep properly and this makes him an unhappy child most of the time.”

For a country that is on track to achieving almost all Millennium development goals, nearly seventeen percent of its children are underweight and up to 19 percent suffer from stunting or poor height to age ratio. A lot has to do with very few mothers exclusively breast feeding their children.

Figures suggest that less than fifty percent of children in the island are exclusively breast-fed up to 6 months and the average duration of exclusive breast feeding is less than two and a half months, this impacts the mental and the physical growth of a child Also lack of a good diet has meant that more than a quarter of Maldivian children between six month to five years of age are anemic and nearly sixty percent of children suffer from iron deficiency .

SOUNDBITE (English) Mazeena Jameel, Officer in charge, UNICEF, Maldives:
”Malnutrition and stunting is a big concern for UNICEF, we are working with the government to develop a national nutrition strategic development plan for the next five years, we are also supporting communities and parents to change their attitudes and behavior to address nutrition of their children and we are also monitoring the results of interventions made in the area of nutrition."

Back in Maafushi Island, Ismail’s mother prepares a home-made paste of local spices hoping that it would help her undernourished child grow normally and become fit. As for Ismail, a walk on the beach with his father keeps him quiet and occupied for a short time, before he gets irritable again.