Nutrition Training

I apologize for not keeping the blog updated! Last week I attended community based nutrition training that was conducted by the Ministry of Health. The training lasted all day long, so I was unable to go to the office to use the computer. The training was so helpful in teaching me about specific problems dealing with nutrition in different districts of Sierra Leone. The topics the training covered were infant and young child feeding, complementary feeding, promotion of breastfeeding, nutritional counseling and support, and nutritional care and support for adults with HIV/AIDS. I learned the most from the experiences that health care workers described in their hospitals and clinics. One of the things the health care workers discussed was the constraints local taboos play in nutrition. For example, one of the local taboos is that the mothers believe their children should not eat eggs, fish, or chicken because these foods will give their children worms. Actually, these foods will not give the children worms if they are cooked thoroughly. These foods are actually an excellent source of iron, and many children, as a result of this false belief, are anemic from having an iron deficient diet.