Tackling malnutrition for rural children

International Children's day is just around the corner. According to a Chinese Ministry of Health report released last year, there is a major gap in child nutrition between rural and urban areas. This is especially true in western regions where village children have a greater risk of malnutrition because of poverty. Our reporter Wu Lei went to Gaodu Village in Shaanxi province.

A simple breakfast is what Zhao Huini and her two-year-old son eat every day. Her husband works in a nearby city, so she has to stay to take care of her son.

Like other parents in this village, Zhao Huini's priority is to make sure her child's stomach is full. The villagers don't know much about trace elements and nutrition young children need, and how important a foundation this is for the rest of a child's life. But now every weekend they join a community child development network for training. The project was launched by Plan International, a children's NGO, and the Shaanxi Women's Federation.

Nureyan Zunong is Plan International's health advisor in China. "We found out that among children, zero to two years old, the prevelence of anemia is really high. It is up to 36.6 percent. Also among the same age children,the prevalence of stunting is very high. It is about 12 percent," Zunong said.

In many western areas, children under the age of 3 are suffering from malnutrition and have limited access to pre-school education. The top concern is granting them good care during this period, which will play a crucial role in their future development.

A number of local volunteers in the village are training the parents or grandparents on how to provide better early childhood care. For example, parents are trained to practice complementary feeding. Volunteers also hand out nutrition packs which contain trace elements and vitamins. But malnutrition in villages is a long-term problem and Nureyan Zunong is hoping for more.

"Because Plan as an international organization, we are outsiders, we will not be here forever. So what we do is to create pilot projects in small scale. We hope the government can replicate it into wilder areas, so all the children can benefit from the pilot project we have developed," she said.

Experts say childhood nutrition affects the whole of a person's life. The government is gradually realizing the urgency of improving early childhood care. Besides closer cooperation with NGOS like Plan International, it is also funding schemes like nutrition pack. More projects are expected to improve the nutrition and overall development of children, especially in western rural communities.