Page Two

“The silent emergencies”

James P. Grant, executive director of UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund), thus described the unheralded deaths of millions of Third World children. He referred, though, not to casualties of the highly publicized African famine, but to victims of silent calamities: deaths by malnutrition, not starvation; deaths by dehydration, not thirst; deaths by disease, not drought.

Why does such tragedy continue? What can parents do to protect their children? Awake! now takes an illuminating and perhaps disturbing look at these questions.

[Picture Credit Line on page 2]

WFP/​FAO photo by B. Imevbore

Why the Children Are Dying

In the time it takes you to read this sentence, three children will die needlessly.

BUT it is neither flood nor famine nor drought that is squeezing the life out of children at the astonishing rate of one every two seconds. Writes William U. Chandler in the Worldwatch Institute report State of the World 1986: “More children die because they are improperly weaned than because of famine. More children die because their parents do not know how to manage diarrhea than because of epidemics. . . . Analysts generally agree that about 17 million children die each year from the combined effects of poor nutrition, diarrhea, malaria, pneumonia, measles, whooping cough, and tetanus. Virtually all these deaths occur in the Third World.”

The tragedy of such loss is heightened by a terrible irony. Continues Chandler: “Half to two thirds [of these deaths] could be prevented with relatively simple measures.” (Italics ours.) Yes, parents in developing lands need not wait for grandiose governmental schemes or large-scale health projects. The know-how to help them save the lives of their children already exists! All that is needed is a willingness on their part to learn and to implement some relatively simple and inexpensive measures. We thus invite you to read the reports of Awake! correspondents in two African countries. It is hoped that these articles will prove not only informative but lifesaving.

Helping the Children Stay Alive!

By Awake! correspondent in Nigeria

POLLUTED water, limited food supplies, widespread disease and infection​—these conditions are common in developing lands. However, Dr. Chizu Okudo, a Nigerian pediatrician, told Awake!: ‘Ignorance and neglect [of proper hygiene] on the part of parents help to create conditions favorable to diseases.’

Continues Dr. Okudo: ‘The older generation often advises younger parents that watery diarrhea washes out impurities and should be left to run its course.’ Following such erroneous advice, parents leave their ailing children untreated. Death often results.

Life, though, is precious to all who honor “the source of life.” (Psalm 36:9) God-fearing parents, therefore, do not let superstitions or local customs endanger the lives of their children. And, says the director general of health in Malaysia, “disease prevention . . . must start in the home.”

Too Many Mouths to Feed?

“Food shortages” characterize our time, and the developing lands have been particularly hard hit. (Matthew 24:7) Complicating the problem is the fact that “pockets of extremely high fertility​—above six children per woman—​still exist throughout Africa and the Middle East,” states Planning the Global Family, a Worldwatch Institute report.

Why, then, do not African couples limit the size of their families? The Worldwatch report explains: “A[n African] woman’s economic and social standing rises with the number of children she bears, particularly since children represent extra hands to help with farming, marketing, and other tasks.” The book Africa in Crisis adds: “The high probability that children will not live encourages African parents to have large families.” In some African countries, nearly a fifth of all babies die in their first year! Ironically, though, having many children often creates a vicious circle of crowded, unsanitary quarters and inadequate sanitation​—the very conditions that play a large part in killing children.

Doctors further say that a woman needs time to recover from pregnancy and childbirth before conceiving again. Otherwise, her ability to have healthy babies can be seriously impaired.

These facts notwithstanding, Africans tend to resist the idea of family planning.a Individuals, though, should not dismiss the matter without serious thought. Christians might consider that while the Bible does not condemn having children, it does say at 1 Timothy 5:8: “Certainly if anyone does not provide for those who are his own, and especially for those who are members of his household, he has disowned the faith.” Having too large a family may make it impossible for parents to provide adequate food, clothing, and shelter for their offspring. Although a personal matter, some couples have thus learned to practice contraception and avoid having more children than they can properly care for.

Breast-Feeding Versus Bottle-Feeding

“Malnutrition caused by poor child feeding practices claims over 10 times as many lives as actual famine,” says researcher William Chandler. “Coupled with diarrheal dehydration, malnutrition is the leading killer in the world.” Often, the ‘poor feeding practices’ begin in infancy.

Breast milk is the ideal food for most infants because it contains all the needed nutrients. It is easily and rapidly digested. It is always fresh and at the right temperature. It contains antibodies that protect and help the baby to build up resistance to infections. Breast-feeding also provides an infant with loving attention, essential to emotional development.

As women take on secular jobs, however, breast-feeding declines in many developing countries. Consequently, many African babies are fed powdered formulas. Such formulas are nutritious when correctly prepared under sanitary conditions. “In poor areas of the world, however,” reported Time magazine, “that is sometimes impossible. Mothers may unknowingly mix powdered formula with contaminated water or, to save money, dilute it too much.” The results can be deadly.

Queen, a Nigerian mother of seven, recalls that hospital nurses introduced her babies to bottle-feeding right from the start. Queen continued the procedure at home. However, her six children all suffered from serious and repeated diarrhea​—one almost died. Her husband says: “We realized that our sixth child was being infected through the feeding bottle, so we stopped using it, and she recovered. Now Queen is breast-feeding our seventh child during its first few months.”

The message? Put your baby to the breast as soon as possible! Eat a balanced diet yourself so that you can produce healthy milk. A side benefit of breast-feeding is that it tends to delay the onset of menstruation after the birth of a baby. It is thus called nature’s contraceptive.

Feed Them Right!

Sometimes, though, African children are fed breast milk exclusively well into their 18th month of life. “When weaned,” says William Chandler, “many children are given adult foods they cannot chew or digest, or that are unnourishing.”

UNICEF’s office in Côte d’Ivoire produced a poster that advises mothers: “After five months, more than the breast.” Mother’s milk should be supplemented by fruit, cereals, and vegetables that have been cooked and strained and that are thus soft enough to be chewed and swallowed by an infant. A Nigerian mother named Ijeoma breast-fed each of her four children during their first four months. She continued breast-feeding for up to 12 months, gradually replacing it by spoon- or bottle-fed meals of fruit juices, pap, and other preparations. She observed strict hygiene in preparing meals. The result? Her children have grown up healthy and have had few infections.

As the child grows, a balanced diet will help him stay healthy. A meal of only carbohydrates, such as yams, cassava, or polished rice, will not provide sufficient nutrition. His body also needs proteins, vitamins, and minerals, which are found in meat, eggs, milk, beans, corn, and a variety of vegetables and fruits.

Important too is how food is handled and stored. It may seem tempting to use spoilable food that has been left standing unrefrigerated for a couple of days, but DO NOT USE IT! “Contaminated food is frequently unsafe and may lead to repeated attacks of diarrhoea and other infectious diseases.” Therefore, (1) wash your hands before touching or preparing foods. (2) Eat food immediately after it is cooked​—don’t let it stand for long at room temperature. (3) Keep your kitchen, your cooking utensils, your clothes, and yourself clean and tidy at all times.​—World Health magazine.

Germs and parasites abound in polluted water. So filter or boil water before using it. Rinse eating utensils with boiling water, and wash your hands before handling food.

Indeed, perhaps the simplest health safeguard is to maintain a high standard of cleanliness. In developing lands, though, this can be a real challenge.

[Footnotes]

[Box on page 5]

Some Symptoms of Malnutrition

◼ Low energy​—child avoids vigorous play

◼ Poor appetite​—child refuses food, eats little

◼ Slow growth​—child is too small for his age

◼ Reduced resistance​—frequent illness from minor infections

Some Causes of Malnutrition

◼ Lack of food

◼ Plenty of food but the wrong kind

◼ Bottle-feeding with weak mixtures or unhygienic handling

◼ Infections

◼ Intestinal parasites, which cause diarrhea or vomiting

[Box/​Pictures on page 7]

Other Lifesaving Measuresb

Over 2,000 children die each day from diseases such as measles, polio, whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus, and tuberculosis​—all of which, doctors claim, are easily preventable by immunization. Many parents have thus made a personal decision to have their children inoculated against these diseases. Nigeria, for example, has the EPI (Expanded Programme on Immunization). Perhaps a similar program exists in your country.​—See Awake! of August 22, 1965, for further information on vaccination.

Remember, though, that for a child to receive full protection, it may be necessary to return for booster shots. Often parents are concerned about the mild fevers and aches that may develop after a child’s first inoculation. However, many parents reason that such minor discomfort is a small price to pay for a child’s protection from death-dealing disease.

Familiarize yourself also with ORT (Oral Rehydration Therapy).c In a recent ten-year span, some 30 million children died of the dehydration and malnutrition caused by diarrhea. A simple solution of glucose, salt, and water, however, can save your child’s life if diarrhea strikes. Given as a drink, it increases the body’s capacity to absorb fluid to replace what is lost through diarrhea and vomiting. If you cannot obtain the prepackaged salts, follow this simple recipe: Mix one level teaspoonful of table salt, eight level teaspoonfuls of sugar, and one quart of water. ORT “averts death in 90 percent of diarrheal dehydration cases.”

In spite of all precautions, children may still get infections and intestinal parasites. How can one be alerted to the presence of such dangerous conditions? A weight-progress chart, easily obtainable in many lands, can help. Simply weigh your child each month and record the weight on a chart that shows the normal growth rate. Comparison of the two weights will indicate any faltering in his development.

[Chart]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

Weight-Progress Chart

average healthy child

may indicate poor diet (visit doctor or clinic)

1 Kg = 2.2 lb.

20

18

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

kg 0

1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year, 4th year, 5th year

[Footnotes]

Meeting the Challenge of Cleanliness

By Awake! correspondent in Kenya

“MAMAAA, nakufa!,” the child cries. It means, “Mother, I am dying!” Attempted murder? No, a small child stands in a bowl and is being thoroughly scrubbed by his mother. In spite of vehement resistance, Mother completes her task!

Such scenes are common in Africa in even the poorest of neighborhoods. Nevertheless, maintaining hygienic standards is not always easy. The oppressively hot African climate makes the work of cleaning doubly hard. Dust storms cover every crevice of a house with fine brown powder. Deteriorating economic conditions make the cost of cleaning supplies, repairs​—and even water—​out of reach for many. In areas where women must walk miles each day to fetch water, they are understandably reluctant to use the precious commodity for washing.

Burgeoning populations in cities, as well as in some rural areas, also create health hazards. Open sewers, piles of uncollected garbage, filthy communal toilets, disease-carrying rats, cockroaches, and flies have become common sights.

Furthermore, a lack of knowledge of proper hygiene and sanitation is widespread. People contaminate water supplies without realizing the lethal consequences. Rats and other disease carriers are tolerated​—even played with by children.

Cleanliness​—The Benefits

Why should families go to the trouble and expense of keeping things clean? Because bacteria and parasites thrive in dirty surroundings. So as simple a matter as washing could mean the difference between life and death for your child! True, cleanliness increases household expenses. Water used for washing may be costly or hard to obtain. But medicine is much more expensive. Soap, disinfectant, wax, a rattrap, and a garbage container also cost money but not as much as doctor bills.

Interestingly, in the Bible there are over 400 occurrences of words related to “clean,” “pure,” and “wash.” God’s Law to Israel had specific regulations that encouraged physical cleanness and good sanitary habits. (Exodus 30:18-21; Deuteronomy 23:11-14) The command to “love your neighbor” also motivates Christians to keep themselves and their homes clean.​—Matthew 22:39.

The box on page 10 gives a helpful checklist of things that can be done around the house. The principles are applicable in any land. Some of the suggestions listed, such as waxing the floor (thus filling tiny cracks) and keeping garbage in a closed container, will make your home much less attractive to insects and other disease carriers. Repairing holes in doors and windows will keep out not only dust but also tiny intruders. And if nothing else, cleanliness will make your home a more pleasant place to live in!

Family Cooperation

After studying this checklist, a housewife may develop a regular cleaning schedule. If all family members cooperate, the schedule need not be burdensome.

Jecinta, for example, is a mother of eight children and lives in a small apartment in an East African city. When asked how she keeps her home so presentable, she said: “All have learned to do their part. If someone spills something, he is given a rag or other equipment to clean up. They have also been taught to be neat when eating.” A father can also cooperate with his wife and back up her efforts. He too can share in training young ones from a tender age to be neat and clean.

Preventive Measures

At times one can make the job of cleaning easier by taking preventive steps. For example, why not plant grass and trees near your house so as to reduce dust? Or try fencing off an area near your house so your children have a clean place to play. If your neighborhood is dangerously crowded, is it possible to find a dwelling in less crowded quarters? This may mean walking a bit farther to work, but it may be worth the effort.

Also, try discarding any useless items you have kept. This can free your home of needless clutter. And if the entranceway of your home is muddy after a rainstorm, why not cover the access to your entrance with gravel? If your home has an outside toilet, why not put a lock on it to prevent others from dirtying it?

The Right Attitude

Do not believe that only what can be seen needs to be clean. Some feel that while the front yard needs to be tidy, the backyard may as well be messy; that the sitting room has to be presentable, but the bedroom can be disorganized or the kitchen walls can be black from fingerprints and fumes. Such inconsistencies remind us of Jesus’ words to the Pharisees: “You cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of plunder . . . Cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside of it also may become clean.” (Matthew 23:25, 26) Admittedly, it is not always possible to have every part of the house in spotless condition. But is it not at least a worthwhile goal for cleanliness to reign throughout the home​—not just sections of it?

It would also not be right to blame the landlord for unclean conditions. True, a paint job may be long overdue, but this does not mean that the walls could not at least be washed. And perhaps a deal could be worked out with the landlord that you would care for some of the household repairs yourself​—in exchange for a lowered rent.

Will You Meet the Challenge?

“I did not believe it at first,” admits an African family head named Joseph. He refers to a Bible talk he heard on the subject of cleanliness. His family lives in a small wooden home, crowded among a dozen neighbors. It has a communal toilet and an unpaved walkway. Nevertheless, Joseph and his family tried applying these principles in their home. “My children now wear sandals, we wipe our feet, we wash our hands with soap and water and take other cleaning precautions,” says Joseph. The result? “I was surprised. The children are sick much less often, and we do not have all these hospital expenses anymore.”

So with relatively little expense and effort, parents in developing lands can make their homes safe, clean places for themselves and their children. Obviously, though, much more needs to be done to solve the developing world’s health problems. Is there reason to believe that large-scale efforts will meet with success?

[Blurb on page 9]

Soap, disinfectant, wax, a rattrap, and a garbage container cost money but not as much as doctor bills

[Box on page 10]

A Clean and Sanitary Home​—A Checklist

Toilet:

Flush toilet after use

For a ‘long drop’ toilet, or privy, use chemicals against insects

Wash hands with soap and water after using toilet

Wash toilet seat and bowl, sink, and other toilet-room items with disinfectant regularly

Kitchen:

Wash hands with soap and water before preparing and serving food

Keep garbage in container with lid; dispose of garbage regularly

Do not leave utensils dirty overnight

Wash vegetables and fruit thoroughly before use

If food preparation is done outside, do not let plates and utensils touch the ground. Do not allow dust to blow onto food

Clean corners of floor and cupboards weekly

Wash baby bottles in hot water

Boil drinking water where the supply is contaminated

Home:

Keep dirty clothes to be washed in a basket or other container

Wash clothes regularly with fresh laundry water

Wax wooden doors, floors, and furniture periodically

Spot-clean walls, doors, and light switches

Wash windows

Trap and kill rats; kill cockroaches and other insects

Check bed periodically for bedbugs and other pests

Keep a floor mat or moist rag at entrance for cleaning of feet

Fill holes in walls and doors, cracks in floors

Replace broken windowpanes

Repair ripped mattresses and upholstered furniture

Outside:

Bury or burn garbage

Remove or bury human or animal droppings

Divert open sewers from coursing through yard by digging a channel

[Box on page 11]

Teach Your Household​—Dos and don’ts for neighborhood cleanliness

To wipe feet when entering a home or other building

To wear shoes or sandals

To flush toilet after use

To wash hands with soap and water after using toilet and before eating

To wipe a runny nose

To wear shorts, trousers, or a dress when sitting on the ground

What not to touch:

droppings

rats

cockroaches

garbage

stray dogs

What Hope for the Children?

IT IS already too late for millions of children in the so-called Third World. The procedures discussed herein would save millions​—if their parents could be reached and convinced to apply them. This being nothing short of impossible, millions of children will simply continue dying​—slowly, quietly, inevitably.

Highly touted large-scale projects hold out little hope. The UN, for example, sponsored the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1981-1990) with the goal of “clean water and adequate sanitation for all by 1990.” With what result?

“Between 1980 and 1983,” reports World Health magazine, “an additional 32 million people in Africa were provided with water supply, and an additional 12 million people received improved sanitation.” Yet, there was only a very small increase in the percentage of people enjoying clean water and sanitation. Rapid population growth all but wiped out the impressive gains. Little wonder, then, that the goal of “clean water and adequate sanitation for all by 1990” has been called “a near impossible task.”

At times, though, relief efforts are impeded, not by a lack of funds or manpower, but by greed, poor judgment, and petty rivalries. Developing lands spend four times as much on weaponry and military expenditures as they do on health. Of the little spent on health care, the majority goes to provide high-technology care​—to the benefit of a privileged few.

Consider too the inexpensive Oral Rehydration Therapy. It is well known that this could save millions of lives. Yet, according to the UN Chronicle, “most doctors continue to prescribe a total of $400 million worth of anti-diarrhoeal drugs each year even though most are known to be useless, harmful or both.”

Or consider the devastating parasitic disease schistosomiasis that now affects 200 million people, especially children. “Science knows the cause of schistosomiasis, has tested the remedies in field trials, has developed an effective strategy that could reduce this infection dramatically in the years ahead,” writes June Goodfield in Quest for the Killers. Why, then, does the disease persist? “The problem is now political,” writes Goodfield.

Yes, children die, not simply because man lacks the knowledge or the resources to keep them alive but because he values political expediency and personal gain over human life. The words of Jeremiah 10:23 have proved true: “To earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.” The only hope for the world’s children​—indeed for the whole human race—​is for God to take over the management of planet Earth. The Bible tells us that he purposes to do just that: “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom [or government] that will never be brought to ruin. . . . It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms [contemporary governments], and it itself will stand to times indefinite.”​—Daniel 2:44.

Under God’s heavenly Kingdom, the children of the world will never again be threatened by disease or death. Jehovah’s Witnesses therefore eagerly await this divine takeover of earth’s affairs. They pray as Jesus taught them: “Let your kingdom come.” (Matthew 6:9, 10) The plight of the children of the Third World makes such God-fearing ones pray this all the more fervently.a

[Footnotes]