Five-year-old Rova was 9lb lighter than my toddler son. One in four kids in Madagascar suffer like her
Cycling legend appeals to Scots to help save lives and donate to charity’s crucial campaign to tackle malnutrition which kills five children every minute
WHEN Olympic legend Sir Chris Hoy met five-year-old Rova in Africa, he was appalled by how much smaller she was than his two-year-old son.
Suffering from chronic malnutrition, Rova weighed only 24lb – 9lb lighter than his little boy Callum.
Chris said: “She should have been twice the weight and twice the height.
“Children like her don’t always look particularly undernourished but then you realise they are much older than you thought and they are physically stunted.
“One in four children like Rova are malnourished which is utterly shocking.”
Chris, a six-time Olympic champ and the second most decorated Olympic cyclist of all time, went to Madagascar in his role as international inspiration ambassador for Unicef.
Chris visited hospitals, clinics and nutrition outreach programmes run by Unicef, who support children suffering from chronic and acute malnutrition.
He also talked to health workers who educate parents about the right foods to give their children to prevent ongoing cycles of malnutrition.
The 41-year-old went to rural areas of Madagascar and to the SCCR Hospital in the city of Antsirabe where he visited the paediatric nutrition ward.
He met a mum waiting by her baby’s bed and shared with her the angst he felt watching his child struggle in hospital.
Chris and wife Sarra, who is pregnant with their second child, had a harrowing experience when Callum was delivered 11 weeks early in 2014.
The tot weighed just 2lb 2oz and survived thanks to the expertise of medical teams.
Chris said: “Once you become a parent, it is very easy to put yourself in the shoes of the person sitting in hospital with their child, worrying about what you are going to do.
“We were in hospital with Callum for two or three months when he was born, which was tough.
“It is not easy when you can’t do anything. You just sit by the bed and hold their hand.
“In countries like Madagascar, it is a different world. As a father, I realise how lucky I am to live in a part of the world where I could access the right care for my child.
“It must be terrifying to live somewhere you can’t get that care.”
In hospital in Mada, he saw one little boy born prematurely but unlike healthy Callum, the lad has struggled to grow because of malnutrition.
He saw a maternity ward which was so primitive, it was nothing more than a shed with a couple of beds.
Chris said: “I spoke to a few of the mothers and you realise it is the same things that happen to all families with a new baby. One mother had just given birth and the family were around this little bundle wrapped in blankets, staring in awe.
“Regardless of where we live, we are all just people dealing with similar issues – but some have it a whole lot worse and they need our help.”
When he retired from cycling, he was approached by many charities
but Unicef appealed because of their global reach.
Five children die every minute as a result of malnutrition which is responsible for nearly half of all deaths of children under five.
Millions more children live with the effects of malnutrition, because their bodies and brains haven’t developed properly.
But with the right nutrition and care during a child’s first 1000 days, they can lead a healthy life.
Unicef UK are running a campaign to raise awareness of malnutrition and funds to tackle the problem.
Money raised will be doubled by the Power of the Nutrition Foundation to go to children in Liberia, who face a similar plight to the kids Chris met in Madagascar.
Madagascar has an abundance of natural resources and fertile growing land but the country is politically unstable and people are so poor, they sell on most of the nutritionally sound food and survive on a diet of rice.
Many children living with chronic malnutrition go undiagnosed.
Chris visited community nutrition centres where outreach workers travel to outlying areas to deliver short-term solutions like peanut paste, as well as educating mums on what foods can help long term.
Babies who are being breastfed are given an additional nutritional supplement to build their strength. At hospital, medics check children’s arm girth, their weight and height and once they get to a healthy weight, they are sent home
In Madagascar, 18,000 children die every year. A third of those deaths are linked to low birth weight, vitamin and mineral deficiencies or the mother’s nutrition.
Like many children, Roza lives in poverty, in a tiny shack shared by four families and which has no running water.
Chris said: “When you see the daily living conditions of children like her, it is hard to take.
“But on the flip side, when you see how much work is being done and what a massive difference a little bit of money can make, it is really positive.”
Just £1 invested in combating nutrition has a return of £16 because a healthy population can contribute to the wealth of a country, rather than being reliant on what little help it provides.
Chris said: “There is hope, it is not a hopeless situation.
“There are huge problems to overcome and a massive mountain to climb but the situation can be improved with the right education and the right funding. I would hope that we could go back to countries like Madagascar in 10 years and see a massive difference ”
Liberia has one of the highest child mortality rates in the world.
Nearly one in three children suffer from chronic malnutrition and one in 14 children dies before they turn five.
Almost 70 per cent of people in Liberia live below the poverty line and many struggle to feed their families.
The country’s population is 4.5million, half of whom are children. And with enough donations and support, the future of the entire country could be transformed.
Chris said: “As a parent you have an obligation to recognise how other parents and children are living.
“We do get desensitised but we need to stop for a minute and realise, that a small contribution can go a long way if we all do our bit.
“I would ask people to donate as much as they can. Even a little will go a long way to making a lasting difference.”