TITLE:
Complementary Food Situation in Sierra Leone: Nutritional Problems and Possible Strategies—A Review
AUTHORS:
Philip John Kanu
KEYWORDS:
Complementary Food, Pap, Malnutrition, Growth Retardation
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.15 No.2,
February
21,
2024
ABSTRACT: Low nutrient density and bulkiness of
complementary foods, early introduction of solid foods, and unhygienic
practices during weaning stage of a child predispose
infants to malnutrition, growth retardation, infection and high mortality. In most West African countries, especially in Sierra Leone, the use
of a variety of home-made complementary foods prepared from locally grown
foodstuffs during the weaning process is popular, with products traditionally
known as pap (mesh rice water) fofo from cassava, ogi, gari, akamu and couscous. Sierra Leone is one of the countries
in West Africa that has been reported to
have a challenging situation with regards to complementary foods, and little effort has so far been done to improve
the situation. Despite these challenges,
very little work has been directed towards the development of complementary foods using local foodstuffs as practiced in some other African countries. This situation has serious impact on the lives of infants
in Sierra Leone, thus increasing the rate of mortality in the country.
Complementary food situation in Sierra Leone was reviewed in terms of the past
and present practices as well as the types of complementary foods used in
Sierra Leone. Thus, the objective of this review was to discuss the complementary food situation in Sierra Leone: Nutritional problems and
possible strategies. Formulation of
high nutritive value home-made complementary foods in the country was
recommended using traditional food processing techniques such as fermentation
and germination, since these methods are simple, and could easily be employed
at household and community levels without the use of sophisticated machinery.
Nonetheless, it was recently reported that a product from the orange-flesh
sweet potato could address the issue of complementary food in the country as it is easy
to prepare, and the products are easily available in the rural area and even
urban settings. Other
recommendations made include: community nutrition education, the development of
weaning recipe book, reduction in the
workload of the suckling mother, promotion of breastfeeding and
increased maternity leave period, which were suggested to be the most immediate
possible strategies for the problems highlighted.