Add content and questions for that week.
I do not know about my fellow broadcasters but I think women play a very important role in contributing to nutrition for the family and yet when it comes to decision making on for example what crops to grow,it is the men who lead and even when it comes to spending the money, some men will spend the money for drinking while the woman has to go out and do some casual work to buy some relish.
I also have seen some lactating women who work on the farms , while their babies are on the backs and hours pass without breastfeeding the baby as recommended while the men are watching instead of helping the women by giving them time to breastfeed.
I think if gender and nutrition are to be successful we have to engage both men and women and the messages have to deliberately target the men so that they are supportive.In my country most people think nutritioon is a womenâs issue .What is your experience?
Hello everyone? how is everything? according to me Gender and nutrition r more related specially womenâs in rural and also urban . that means more home works r covered by womenâs like caring childrenâs preparing foods and so on so when we educate womenâs about nutrition we can change world. i see womenâs like a symbol of world. so to become a good awareness about nutrition we will be educating womenâs . because most of the time in Africa food related works r covered by wise womenâs. but not i say the only womenâs of course males also be educating about nutrition. when we make awareness on parents we can make change through families.
Hello great members of barza community.
To me it is good that both sex are educated on the need for nutritional food and more importantly, women should be the most targeted group. Linking with my country, women play vital role in terms of food preperation. Usually is the man Who provide the house keeping money and it is the woman that prepareds the menu knowning what to or what not to eat. So more women needed more education on the need for nutritional food. One philosophy said " if you educate a man you educate an individual and if you educate a woman you educate a nation". This tells us that educating women on nutrition means you are educating a whole lot of generation yet unburn.
There I think they should know what and why nutrition is more important in our dailly live.
This is good and I may differ a bit with you people in Uganda we have special foods that are not allowed to be eaten by female/women i.s eggs, cat fish, pork, chicken, etc this has deprived them of their liberty and right too food. This norm was their since our grand parents though now it has been discouraged but in typical families it is still going on.
Dear fellow discussants and experts.
Whenever i come across issues concerning gender i first of all try to define it as the socially constructed roles performed by men and women. In other words, society sets or constructs specific roles to be performed by men and sets those that are supposed to be performed by women. For example; women are supposed to cook, men are not supposed to cook, women do not ride bicycles, it is men supposed to ride. Girls or women are not supposed to climb trees, it is men supposed to do so. Men are supposed to be mechanics, but women can not be mechanics because this type of work is masculineâŚyou can give all examples as you know them in our society.
Therefore this takes me to match âGender and Nutritionâ as discussed below.
Since there are specific roles for men and women, matters of nutrition in this sense bend more on the side of women since they have been made to be the providers of food. Society knows women are supposed to cook food. Whatever they prepare at home is determined by them. They can decide to change meals for their family for instance; they can decide to cook potatoes and beans for lunch, then prepare Matooke or Nsima with green vegetables for dinner. So people or family members will eat whatever is put on table for them.
Secondly, society has made women not to eat certain food stuffs like eggs and chicken. Also people have totems or clans that do not allow women to eat some types of fish E.g mud fish; which they say has breasts so women can not eat it. Although culture is changing in Uganda just like the way Pascal said, women especially old ones do not eat chicken and eggs. That chicken is supposed to be eaten by men and boys! Women especially the old ones can even prepare chicken and call boy children to taste if salt put in the chicken soup is enough- the chicken that she has prepared herself! This is because she is not supposed to eat it. It makes women miss on the food value got in chicken. A woman is also not supposed to eat eggs since society dictates that eggs are for men or boy children! So she will serve the boys with eggs and leave out the girls. But at times young girls or girl children can be given eggs for treatment purposes especially when suffering from measles.
In summary, it is mainly women who prepare food at home for their families. Whether nutritious food or not she will prepare food for people to eat. But for better health, women need to prepare a balanced diet and know how to prepare nutritious food. To considerable extent, culture is changing and a lot of things are changing where we nowadays see many women doing what was set by society for men.
Hello everyone
We are now in Week 3 of the discussion on nutrition. Thanks to those that have already started contributing in this weekâs discussion on gender and nutrition @pauline @birhanu @pascalalex @ChugPope. We have heard different views, others talking about certain foods that are meant to be consumed by a certain gender and not the other, e.g. eggs that cannot be eaten by females as @pascalalex puts it.
I would like to draw your attention to how hunger and malnutrition are being addressed. Think of the previous discussions we had on how nutrition is not just about curbing hunger and not about just filling the stomach but making sure people are getting all the nutrients the body needs. In your area, how is hunger and malnutrition addressed? Do you in any way feel that it limits the way people understand what nutrition is all about and how it relates to gender? What program ideas can you come up with that will give voice to women not only as farmers and producers of food but also as consumers of the nutritious foods.
Our expert @Bibi will also give us more information on this issue.
Enjoy the week
Busi
Dear Busi and Team.
I would like to contribute to week 3 discussion specifically on how hunger and malnutrition are being addressed. In this, i will try to give responses to the questions put up by Busi in line with hunger and malnutrition. These are as follows:-
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In your area, how is hunger and malnutrition addressed? Hunger may be a situation of being hungry without food to eat. Whenever hunger strikes in my area, people will lack food. Meanwhile, malnutrition may be lack of food and food nutrients that is mainly common in children. Therefore, hunger is addressed in my area by people improvising whatever means to get at least some food to eat. It may not be a balanced diet that is needed at that time but something food to eat. People will engage in activities like providing labour in turn for food or to be paid money which they can use to buy maize flour, sorghum, cassava and potatoes. They will also move from place to place requesting for some food to eat at home. By the way; these are the types of food that people normally try getting when hunger sets in-maize grain, finger millet, sorghum, dry cassava and potato chips. Some people keep dry food for future in case they face hunger. On the other hand, malnutrition becomes a challenge to many to handle because without food or when faced with the problem of hunger, children become malnourished. At times, parents may improvise for children and they themselves go hungry or they divide the little they get and eat but insufficiently. It may even not be that people luck food; food may be available but people just luck the knowledge of giving children proper food or diet they require. This makes children for example lack enough food and nutrients in the body. So at-times the parents are guided by health workers and community workers on what to do. Or children stay like that until they overcome it when they grow. But what i have seen a number of times, charitable organizations like Red cross, World Health Organizations and government give food and nutritious food supplements to children that are malnourished especially when the situation gets worse and covers a big area. An example is when one of the districts called Namutumba was faced with malnutrition and a Centre was set up at one of the health Centres where children were supplied with food supplements and treated.
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Do you in any way feel that it limits the way people understand what nutrition is all about and how it relates to gender? Yes. Because people may think nutrition is all about eating very well especially eating meat, fish and chicken, which they think can not afford. They may think it is a luxurious way of eating and yet it is all about preparing food in the required diet that the body requires for good health. And nutrition relates to gender in that women are charged with the duty of preparing food for the family members. Secondly, certain types of food are not eaten by women or girls like eggs, chicken, some types of fish, a situation that puts them at risk of getting malnourished especially in children.
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What program ideas can you come up with that will give voice to women not only as farmers and producers of food but also as consumers of the nutritious foods?
I will first of all create a 15-20 minutes radio slot in the health main program on nutrition. This will be called âHealth for wealthâ, meaning good health creates wealth since costs that are put to treatment of diseases due to poor nutrition or poor feeding are saved once people have good health, and that when people need to feed well, they get good health. This program will be intended for the local population especially women in Namutumba district and other areas in eastern Uganda especially Busoga region where malnutrition is wide spread. It will be done in Lusoga local language to target the real local population that normally face challenges of nutrition. Women are the providers of food on table and even they are mainly responsible for taking care of children at home that men. But men will also be targeted and sensitized to help the women in this since they are both parents. And a woman requires support from the man.
The radio program will be suggested to have this type of content:
Promotion of the locally available foods that can be prepared in a good way to have a balanced diet. These will include foods that contain carbohydrates found in maize flour, proteins got in insects, meat, fish and other food values. The program will also sensitize the audience on cultural norms that prevent girls and children from eating important food nutrients like eggs, chicken and fish. It will also contain information on food security whereby people can be advised to always keep food so that they get food even in times of hunger. In this, fast maturing crops like beans, tomatoes and vegetables will be emphasized so that people can have food and vegetables. The program will also be done to empower the people especially women to take good care of their health by feeding well and their children on good food and also encouraging them to utilize the available opportunities by government to grow nutritious food like the orange sweet potato, beans and chicks given freely so that they are able to get eggs, chicken and source.
That is all i can share Team.
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Dear all,
Some more food for thought (pun intended!) for this nutrition discussion: I wanted to draw your attention to an article we published this week on Barza Wire that looks at Tanzanian farmers who are benefiting from a radio program about local vegetables and nutrition. The story talks about how a local radio program has helped farmers grow, cook, preserve and market fresh, leafy vegetables such as mchicha, a local spinach-like plant. This stories ties in nicely with why talking about nutrition is important, what links nutrition has with agricultural production and how womenâs access to these local leafy greens is helping them better feed themselves and their families.
Hereâs the link to the article:http://wire.barza.fm/en/farmer-stories/2015/03/tanzania-farmers-learn-about-local-vegetables-and-nutrition-on-the-radio-11644
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Hello everyone
I would like to share this resource:
http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/bridge-publications/cutting-edge-packs/gender-and-food-security.
It is a resource about gender and food security, it will give you an insight and points to ponder as you discuss gender and nutrition. Great and detailed contributions so far and we will comment and round up as we go along.
Busi
Why is nutriton so important right away from conception
Dear Monica.
I would like to respond to your question on the importance of nutrition right away from conception.
I think nutrition is important right away from conception because from the time a woman or mother conceives, she requires a lot of food nutrients for herself to be health and strong enough to carry the baby in the womb for the period the pregnancy lasts which are 9 months. Also, a lot of changes take place in the motherâs body that need support for her to endure the pregnancy. I also think when a pregnant woman or mother feeds poorly, the development of the child will be poor, the mother will be weak and becomes anemic, she might be sickly, the baby may not develop normally, the woman can even give birth to a low weight and weak baby that will be disturbing, if the baby survives after birth, it will be disturbing. At birth, the mother may even fail to push or give birth or to endure labour pain. And unfortunately, the mother may die or both the mother and baby may die.
Hello @monica
Thank you for asking the question about the importance of nutrition from conception, it fits very well within the context of gender and nutrition. @smawerere, thanks for that explanation. Indeed when a woman is pregnant, she has to feed nutritiously not only herself but also the baby she is carrying. There is a saying that goes: âYou are what you eatâ, what you feed your unborn baby will also show on the baby.
I would like to get our expertsâ view @kinabonutrition @Bibi though on the issue of importance of nutrition from conception.
Busi
Thank you Nelly for sharing that story of how people in Tanzania have change their practices in food preparation, it is indeed a big challenge people might have plenty of food but proper preparation also affects nutrition, for example one of the women said she was overcooking her vegetables but after listening to the radio she changed. This is how powerful a nuritional radio program can do to the listeners, In Malawi, when we were doing a program called Maziko a Nthanzi meaning Foundation for nutrition, men confessed that they used to think that feeding a child is only a womenâs role but after listening to the program they began to take part in feeding their child when they are available.
That is true @Pauline, a lot of times people neglect certain roles because of their upbringing and beliefs. Radio can do so much to change peopleâs behaviors and habits.
Malnutrition is not simply deficiency (lack) of enough required food nutrients but also too much (excess) intake of a given food nutrirent. We have people complain of H B P (high blood pressures) due to elevated cholestrol content (fats) in the body. What people call good feeding; fatty meat, highly sugared teas, over fried snacks is actually bad feeding. On the issue of nutrition and gender; women are responsible for cultivation, preparation and distribution of most foods, they are charged with health of children but the more vulnerable to malnutrition. This increases during pregnancy and breast feeding.
Hallo members,
In my opinion, I think the best thing to do is to enpower women so that they can do the wonders that they were created to do on this earth. After increasing the world population, women are the ones who have the biggest responsibility of nurturing the family. A woman when there is little food at home or at table, she decides to offer her share to a child who will cry out even after seeing that there is no more food and âMummy I am not satisfiedâ, the mother who would have been busy tending to a baby maybe suckling it, with the hope of eatting her share afterwards, would just get her wouldbe share and give it to her child and all of it too!
That is why there is a need for these women to be enabled and be availed with funds and land for them to till and feed not only their families but the whole world.
C
Hello all,
Great comments on this topic of gender and nutrition. It is amazing how we see the role of women in all this and it is important that as broadcasters we produce and broadcast radio programs that address nutrition.
I am attaching some radio scripts that will give you a few ideas on nutrition programs:
Scripts on nutrition.docx (11.0 KB)
Feel free to use the scripts in anyway you would like.
Busi
Hello everyone
We have come to the end of the moderated part of our discussions but the platform is still open for you to continue discussing. We encourage you to invite more broadcasters so they can also benefit from and share experiences in these discussions.
Many thanks to all who took part in the discussions by either contributing to the topic at hand, asking a question or creating a new topic. I believe we have all learned a thing or two.
In rounding up the last discussion topic on gender and nutrition, it seems like most people agree that nutrition is always pushed towards women as people responsible for cooking and feeding families. Some feel women need to be empowered more to be able to understand more about nutrition because of traditional gender roles. At the same time, others believe this should not be a women only issue but everyone should be educated about nutrition.
Thank you @smawerere for sharing a radio program idea that addresses gender and nutrition. We did not get others to share but in the end we shared some radio scripts on nutrition that you might use. There are a lot of different issues that would need to be covered including the beliefs as mentioned in the contributions that there are certain foods that women are not supposed to eat, while those foods provide us with good nutrition. The list could be endless depending on what is happening in your own country or region.
An interesting discussion on the importance of nutrition from conception also emerged. In most times women neglect to eat healthily especially when pregnant. They forget that the unborn baby also needs to be fed nutritious food, whatever the mother eats, is transferred to the baby too.
Remember, you are encourage to continue with the discussions even if they are not moderated. Let me also thank our experts for their contributions @kinabonutrition @Bibi and @Nelly for support.
Enjoy
Busi
I would like to put in a discussion which I thought I had sent but which unfortunately returned as a De-mailer!
HOW CAN HUNGER AND NUTRITION BE ADDRESSED IN UGANDA
First of all, the two enemies of man, hunger and nutrition, can be best addressed by having food for society; food which can have all the nutrients as well as be enough to satisfy their hunger.
Enough nutritious food can come from active agricultural activities where government should come in and help the farmers by offering them farming equipments and inputs which are durable not the fake to enable them involve themselves in commercial farming. Farmers will need a lot of education on how to make use of the available material on their farms. For example, all water should be harvested; therefore the need to dig valley dams where all rain water can be harvested. All animal waste should be used in making organic manure and compost, some of it (the animal waste), can be used to make Biogas which can be used for cooking and lighting thus reducing on cutting down of trees for firewood.
There are Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Uganda such as Farm Agricultural Organization, Feed the Children, World Health Organization and others which offer food stuff/supply to people especially in draught stricken or war torn areas where very little farming can take place.
Food security should be emphasized especially now with the current climate change in areas where it has not been practiced like in the Central region, the people in this place do not have granaries simply because they were used to having rainfall in plenty almost every three months they would have rain which made them to get fresh food from the farms constantly. But now things have change these last few months there was a great draught, which lasted for four months, with a lot of sunshine, which made them to fear. A few days ago, the rains came but they were a whole month late because they normally come during the first week of March! The problem might because there is a lot of cutting down of trees for building materials and for firewood. This has reduced on the many tropical forests which Uganda used to have and yet it is trees which contribute to rain. It is now high time; the people in Central region learn to store food in ginneries to avoid food scarcity. Farmers should also start growing fast growing seeds which mature in three to four months to increase on the amount of food for the society.
Does this limit the way people understand what nutrition is all about and how it relates to gender?
I would say no, because for example, they know that the green leafy vegetables have lots of essential nutrients and so do fruits too. Although culture, sometimes hinders these customs when it comes to male dominancy in almost every that is done. When it comes to serving food, women know, it is almost a rule that the man should be served first and with the best that there is and it should be enough to satisfy him; well as the mother and the children will feed on the little and the poor quality of whatever there is! If it is potatoes being served, the big ones will be for âOmwamiâ which is the title for the man in the home. There are some foods which used to be eaten by men alone like chicken, eggs and other which my colleagues Sarah and Pascal, mentioned, but when you ask why this was done so elders admit that it was just greed! Still even now the particle dominancy prevails whereby the father is given all the thick milk while the children and their mother have to add a lot of water to theirs to have enough for them all. If there is sugar, it should be given to âOmwamiâ and the rest take tea without sugar. The rest of the family will eat what is left over on the fatherâs plate after he is satisfied.
It is on this note that both men and women should be sensitized to know what is best, especial when it comes to good feeding and nutrition because this practice is being handed over from generation to generation and they should be informed that the good cultural practices can be retained and the bad ones be changed or done away with.
This is where as program about Food and Nutrition and Health will be a good remedy for this phobia.