At least 36,000 children are suffering from malnutrition in Tolima.
15,000 of them are chronically malnourished, the department’s Health
Secretary announced on Monday.
Eleven municipalities of the central Tolima department show a shockingly high number of children under five years who are too small and underweight, have diarrhea diseases and respiratory infections resulting from chronic malnutrition, Health Secretary Diego Escobar Guinea told newspaper El Nuevodia.
The population does not have enough money to provide a balanced diet and do not control the growth and development of their children enough, Escobar said.
The National Health Department will launch a plan in the Tolima department on Wednesday to tackle malnutrition. “We will give children under five years of age nutritional support rich in vitamins, proteins and carbohydrates. It is very similar, proportionately, to the aid we have given to pregnant women,” Escobar explained.
The government only has enough resources to help around 12,000 of the 36,000 malnourished children.