WOMEN IN RURAL AREAS RUN OUT OF BREAST MILK

EZULWINI – Women in the rural areas have run out of breast milk to feed their children because of the ongoing drought.

The women who were randomly interviewed at 10 different constituencies said this was caused by the fact that they did not have food to eat and water which would in turn create the breast milk.
This is according to an ongoing survey that is being conducted by World Vision with the support of UNICEF.

The survey – ‘Findings of the Impact of El Nino on Children and Lactating Mothers’ was presented before the MPs by Philisiwe Nkambule who said they had visited constituencies such as Lubulini, Matsanjeni, Somntongo and Mkhiweni among others.
She said as a result children were deprived of essential nutrients which were in breast milk and as a result there was already evidence of malnutrition among the children especially infants.  

She said pregnant women were also directly affected by the drought as they had stopped going for their antenatal visits because they did not have the money to travel to the clinic and used the little money they had to buy food.
She said the study also revealed that there were more women who were giving birth at home.

She said health was no longer a priority among women as for example they would use their last E20 to buy a tin of fish instead of making visits to the clinic. “Patients who are also on medication are defaulting, including those who are on ART and diabetes medication,” said Nkambule.

She said a lot of weight loss had been witnessed, especially in children under the age of five and that families were being very strict on food rationing.                                

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