{"id":5329,"date":"2019-09-16T12:02:52","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T09:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=5329"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:32","slug":"ecd-centers-quality-care-paramount-for-the-well-being-of-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/09\/16\/ecd-centers-quality-care-paramount-for-the-well-being-of-children\/","title":{"rendered":"ECD Centers: Quality Care Paramount For The Well-Being Of Children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Lydia Atieno<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of a tight working\nschedule of many families today, parents have embraced services offered at\nEarly Childhood Development Centres (ECDC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Childhood Development\nCentres are places that provide care and act as recreation facilities for\nchildren who are mostly under the age of six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their primary role is to\nprovide a safe and secure environment availed by quality caregivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda developed a policy\naround Early Childhood Development with an aim of ensuring that all Rwandan\nchildren achieve their potential, are healthy, well-nourished and safe, and\ntheir mothers, fathers and communities become nurturing caregivers through\nreceiving integrated early childhood development services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But most importantly, the\npolicy aims at reducing under-5 child mortality and morbidity; reduce the\nincidence of childhood illnesses and ensure that child rights are respected and\nchildren are safe and secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why, among other\naspects, it is imperative for these centres to have quality hygienic and\nfeeding practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is this important?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private Kamanzi, a\nnutritionist at Amazon Cabinet Clinic in Remera, Kigali, says if the nutrition\nof these young ones is compromised, it means that they might have long-term\neffects on their overall health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through his consultancy with\nsome centres, he observes that the component of quality nutrition hasn\u2019t been\nattained fully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This he says is not as a\nresult of lack food but a lack of nutritional knowledge on the best practices\nand how the kids should be fed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from that, Kamanzi says\nthe quality of food served to these children should matter as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor instance, for breakfast,\nif you are to make porridge, it should be thick. Children in this age group are\nsupposed to be given thick porridge made from different cereals as recommended\nby nutritionists,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He insists that the flour\nfrom which the porridge is made should be composed of different grains and\nshould be blended in measured quantities as well, highlighting that the main\ncereals should dominate others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome caregivers tend to put\nmore wheat than other cereals yet too much wheat is not good for a child at\nthis age because it\u2019s not easy for their tract to digest it. This age is\ncritical and it requires special nutrition to ensure the child grows up\nhealthily,\u201d he cautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph Uwiragiye, head of\nnutrition department at University Teaching Hospital (CHUK) notes that meals\nserved to these children should be balanced with carbohydrates, proteins,\nvitamins as well as fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He insists on vegetables\nespecially when it comes to the way they are prepared noting that this matters\na lot for them to not be overcooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen they are overcooked,\nthey lose nutrients, therefore, making it difficult for a child to get what is\nrequired when it comes to nutrition intake,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uwiragiye gives similar\ncaution when serving fruits to children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey shouldn\u2019t be given in form of juice, because when this is done, it\u2019s easier to dilute them with water thus adding more sugar to make it tasty, this is not recommended.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Caregivers at these centers should avail of quality care to ensure the well-being of children. \/ Lydia Atieno<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He hence says that given that\nchildren tend to spend a lot of time at these centres, poor nutrition would\ndefinitely have a serious impact on their health noting that they can for\ninstance become stunted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nutritionist advises caregivers at the centres to always device means of handling children with bad eating habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says, in cases where some\nchildren refuse food not because they aren\u2019t hungry or the food is not tasty,\nbut because of a low appetite; there should be skills on how to handle\nthis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with this, he adds that\nchildren should be fed in a specific area other than entertaining those who\nchoose to feed while running or playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, he explains that it\u2019s\nimportant because it builds good eating habits hence a good appetite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hygiene matters too<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adeline Ufitinema, food and nutrition specialist at NECDP explains that children under the age of two must be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life, expressed breast milk should be left at daycare centers and parents must also ensure breast milk is kept well in a safe and clean environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to\ncomplementary feeding, she says children from 6 to 24 months should be fed on\ncomplementary food which is balanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She adds that it\u2019s important\nfor caregivers to take care of the frequency of feeding, the quantity of food\nthey are fed, variety of food, yet attention and hygiene should be ensured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, she says\nchildren from 6 months must be fed at least two times a day with 2 to 3\ntablespoons at each feeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She says from 9 to 12 months:\n the child should be fed three to four times a day with 250 ml each\nfeeding. It\u2019s better to introduce new types of food for the children to be\nfamiliar with a variety of food. While from 12 to 24 months, she says a child\nmust be fed five times a day and the food must be mixed with micronutrient\npowder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Till the age of five,\nchildren should be continued to be fed a well-balanced diet. When they are not\nfed properly, it can lead to poor nutrition and acute malnutrition as well,\nUfitinema says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freya Zaninka De Clercq, head of the department early learning, parenting education and child protection at National Early Childhood Development Program (NECDP) says sanitation matters because even if a child is given enough food and a balanced diet but with poor hygiene- the nutrition of this child will not be attained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She notes that poor hygiene is also another cause of child stunting thus aiming at improving it is really encouraged at all centers, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ufitinema also highlights\nthat caregivers should wash their hands before feeding children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s being done to achieve\nquality care?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zaninka says sensitization is being carried out at different levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She notes that they carry out\na cooking demonstration in home-based ECD and rural areas for parents to get\nthat knowledge of what a child needs to be fed on while they are out of the\ncenters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zaninka adds that they also\ncount a lot of community health workers who sensitize pregnant mothers on the\nimportance of proper feeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd after delivery, they\nhelp them understand the importance of exclusive feeding and a balanced diet\nfor the child below the age of two years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the centres, Zaninka\nsays, apart from accrediting those that abide by the rules and regulations of\nECD policy, they as well make personal visits to ensure the guidelines are\ntaken into considerations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read original\nArticle<\/a> On The New Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lydia Atieno Because of a tight working schedule of many families today, parents have embraced services offered at Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDC). Early Childhood Development Centres are places that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}