Shocking statements by African mothers who die of food shortages (Photo)

Many Ghanaian children under the age of five suffer the irreversible effects of malnutrition on their first critical 1,000-day life. This is the time in children's lives that determines their health when they grow up, their ability to learn at school and to do a job in the future, reports “Al Jazeera”, Periscope broadcast.

Over a quarter of children under the age of five in Ghana suffer from chronic malnutrition. These children will never achieve their full potential in physical or intellectual moments. This is not a new model. Nearly 40 percent of Ghana's adults faced slow growth as children.

Government statistics on malnutrition and lack of children, data from U NICEF, WHO, World Food Programme and Global Nutrition Report have forced little action to improve the situation. This crisis remains an abstract issue of statistical figures in which most of the world takes a blind eye.

But malnutrition is a burden to society as a whole, and the effects of childhood malnutrition are weakened through the social levels of the affected country.

Journalist Roger Thurow has discussed how malnutrition of children in the first 1,000 days of life is increasing health care costs and creating chaos in the health care system, preventing productivity of the workforce and making it difficult for educational institutions.

A recent report estimated that Ghana's economy lost over $2 billion in 2012 as a result of the influence of malnutrition on Ghana's children. This loss reached 6.4 percent of the country's GDP.

Child malnutrition is perceived as a stigma in small communities, mothers hide their children when feeding them; there is a feeling of embarrassment.

As a result, there are high levels of social conflict among women in these communities “Your child feeds and goes to school, but mine is malnourished and we cannot afford school spending”, says a mother from Ghana.

The social structure of these small communities is divided, and there is a lack of organised support networks for women to help each other.

“Rrufe killed my child”

Kate Afful, 40, is home with her mother telling the story of how one of her daughters died at the age of two. Another of her six children died in the east. She worked as a fisherman for her husband until his death about 10 years ago. Since then, she has tried to find a job and care for the remaining four children. Her children have been malnourished and often get sick. They just eat '%banku, a fermented corn and wheat straw. “God took my two-year-old daughter”, says Afful. “She didn't feel well, so I put her in bed. Later that evening, there was a bad storm. The sky was noisy and angry. I heard an explosion in the clouds. When I went to check on my kid, she was dead. I believe the thunder killed my child. )

But he's in his 20s. She lives with her two children and her husband in the village of Nyanyanano. Her husband is a fisherman and works to sell roasted food on the street. Her two children are both malnourished, and her oldest child has suffered from eye infection for two years without medical treatment. Many children die in this village,” says Ama. People talk about my sick and malnourished children, but I don't care what they say. I don't have anything I can do because I can't let me take the kids to the hospital or give them the food materials the nurses recommend. )

Hannah Aberkah, 23, sat in her home surrounded by yellow rain buckets that collected the night before. Hannah never attended school, and she began working at a very early age as a fisherman. She is married to a fisherman, and they have two young children who suffer from malnutrition. Her husband is often away for weeks. My kitchen is empty. I have no food at all, Abekah says.

Rachel Edifile, 18 works as a fisherman. She tries to provide food for her children. Her younger child is underweight and malnourished, and relies on her grandmother's help to pay medical expenses. Like many mothers in this area, she cannot send her oldest child to school. “I'm not happy”, she says. I want to take more care of my children, send them to school and buy good food”. /Periscopi/