Vice-President Mutale Nalumango has advised mothers to feed their babies with Indigenous foods, which she described as nutritious for the health and mental growth of their children. 

ZANIS reports that Ms Nalumango added that nutrition is important in the life of any person and that it is even vital in children, adding that the Government has put premium on the welfare of babies by putting women especially pregnant mothers on the social safety nets. 

” If the child lacks vital elements during its early days, that child will be stunted both physically and mentally and that their performance in school is affected dramatically, so I urge you to embrace foods such as ground nuts, cassava and millet porridge,” she said.

Speaking when she presented Christmas hampers to newly born babies at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka today, the Vice President reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to continue supporting women especially pregnant mothers through various safety nets under the Ministry of Community Development. 

She observed that women opt to use processed foods to feed their babies as opposed to locally grown foods which are highly nutritious for the health growth of the child. 

And the Vice-President has announced that the Government will continue to recruit more volunteers in the health sector in a bid to beef up the number of staff to enhance health care service delivery to Zambians. 

She explained that depending on the availability of resources, more health workers will be employed in the health sector because they are doing a great job by helping staff in various Government departments. 

Meanwhile, Ms Nalumango has also urged Zambians to celebrate Christmas responsibly by engaging in progressive and productive activities. 

The Vice President noted that Christmas is the day to honour God for the gift of life to humanity and not the time to engage in illicit activities which are detrimental to one’s health. 

Earlier, UTH Sister in charge of ward BO3, Busiwa Kasaro explained that five Christmas babies have been born at the facility and that three are boys while two are girls. 

She paid glowing tribute to the Vice President for the visit to the hospital and distribution of various Christmas hampers to mothers. 

One of the Mothers, Angela Kota expressed gratitude to the Vice President for the baby hampers.