CEBU, Philippines - Clearly food fortification is one thing, consistency in living a healthy lifestyle to complement fortified food is another. For infants and young children, no amount of vitamin A supplementation, food fortification and Sangkap Pinoy Seal even in snack food guarantee remedies to micronutrient malnutrition. When hurting children lose their appetites, it maybe because they are sealed in their pain – it is a pain that cannot be diagnosed with biochemical testing.
What hurts is that while there can be high vitamin A implementation among infants and children, their hurt finds no healing. More than fortified food, infants and young children need to be fortified with love and compassion. Hurting children need to be cared for with sensitivity by making them open up and talk about their pain. Even if children are fed with micronutrients, these nutrients may not necessarily heal them unless their hunger for love is fed.
More than the hungry child is the hurting child. Donnie never knew what became of her father. She may be carrying the hurt to her adult life. It could be that because there continues to be prevalence of micronutrient malnourished children that government may have sealed off the fortification of healing the hurting child. It’s hidden. (FREEMAN)