MANYARA Regional Commissioner (RC) Queen Sendiga has urged residents in the region to take seriously the children’s stunting statistics and invest in their children proper feeding to address the challenge.

RC Sendiga made the call over the weekend here during the commemoration of the International Day of the African Child.

She noted that despite the significant progress made by Tanzania in addressing all forms of malnutrition among children under five over the last decade, the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in the country is still high, with stunting at 30 percent as per report of the Ministry of Health and National Bureau of Statistics, 2022).

The RC said there is a spread mind-set among people that eating a balanced diet is expensive, which is not true.

“Eating a variety of foods which are vegetables, fruits, cereals/grains, starchy tubers or roots, nuts and seeds, all these are affordable and available in our localities, we need to change these mindsets and start feeding our children well,” she noted.

 Sendiga wanted parents to see the stunting statistics as shameful and act accordingly to make their children healthy.

During the event, stakeholders and children called for improvement in policies, education system and how the court operates to further protect children rights.

Ally Juma, a pupil at Galapo Primary School in the district said that if the systems are properly looked at, they will facilitate provision of justice to children but also control stunting and strengthen child protection.

Grace Swai, programmes manager at the ‘So They Can Tanzania’ said that as an organisation, they have been working hard to promote children welfare by educating them on their rights.

She said the organisation implements programmes that encourage the use of pupil-centred learning, which ensures that children are involved and given priority in everything.

“We need to ensure that we provide the right education to our children from kindergarten, this involves constructing classrooms and other infrastructure to enable pre-school children to learn and play in a conducive environment,” she said.