Complementary Food Situation in Sierra Leone: Nutritional Problems and Possible Strategies—A Review

Abstract

Low nutrient density and bulkiness of complementary foods, early introduction of solid foods, and unhygienic practices during weaning stage of a child pre dispose infants to malnutrition, growth retardation, infection and high mortality. In most West African countries, especially in Sierra Leone, the use of a variety of home-made complementary foods prepared from locally grown foodstuffs during the weaning process is popular, with products traditionally kn own as pap ( mesh rice water ) fofo from cassava , ogi , gari , akamu an d couscous . Sierra Leone is one of the countries in West Africa that has been rep orted to have a challenging situation with regards to complemen tary foods, and little effort has so far been done to improve the situation. Despite these challen ges, very little work has been directed towards the development of complementary foods using local foodstuffs as practiced in some o ther African co untries. This situation has serious impact on the lives of infant s in Sierra Leone, thus increasing the rate of mortality in the country. Complementary food situation in Sierra Leone was reviewed in terms of the past and present practices as well as the types of complementary foods used in Sierra Leone. Thus, the objective of this review was to discuss the c omplementary food situation in Sierra Leone: Nutritional problems and possible strategies. Formulation of high nutritive value home-made complementary foods in the country was recommended using traditional food processing techniques such as fermentation and germination, since these methods are simple, and could easily be employed at household and community levels without the use of sophisticated machinery. Nonetheless, it was recently reported that a product from the orange-flesh sweet potato could address the issue of complementary food in the country as it is easy to prepare, and the products are easily available in the rural area and even urban settings. Other recommendations made include: community nutrition education, the development of weaning recipe boo k, reduction in the workload of the suckling mother, promotion of breastfeeding and increased maternity leave period, which were suggested to be the most immediate possible strategies for the problems highlighted.