Stop Malnutrition and Infant Mortality in Cameroon

This research was aimed at analyzing the food composition of households in the Bonakanda community and to evaluate the number of children facing health challenges as a result of insufficient intake of nutrients.

The team administered 180 questionnaires from Monday 18^th- Wednesday 20^th of September 2017. First, the team had a meeting with the chief, who gave the go ahead to administer questionnaires in households in his locality, starting with his household. Sixty questionnaires were administered to 60 households each day from 800 a.m to 300 p.m, for three days.

It was observed that the people of Bonakanda were very welcoming to the idea, though many were doubtful of what help the project will be to them. They were also doubtful about the authenticity of the project because they had been surveyed before but had no positive feedbacks on the projects promised to be implemented. They were thus a little reluctant to give detailed information

The respondents revealed that they have mainly two square meals daily, composed mostly of carbohydrates (cocoyams, yams), with mainly vegetables from their farms as supplements with smoked fish as their main source of protein. It was disclosed that both adults and children ate the same food available at home, since most members of the community could not afford separate food sources for the kids. Evaluation revealed 3 children from three households suffered from health problems as a result of malnutrition.

The respondents went further to suggest that it would be helpful if they were assisted with seeds like soya-beans in order to grow them as a source of protein for their kids. Local community members also suggested fruit seeds like watermelon and food sources which are not grown on their farms like rice, cooking oil and other food supplements for them and their kids.

Links:

• Organizational Website