• Launches kitchen-garden culture to fight malnutrition

Rwanda will today join the rest of Africa to commemorate the day of the African child by launching a kitchen-garden culture aimed at curbing malnutrition among children.

The culture that will be spread to schools and orphanages is championed by the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF).

According to the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Dr. Jeanne d’ Arc Mujawamariya, the initiative aims at inculcating a culture of growing fruits and vegetables to feed children.

"These are needed in improving the nutrition as we fight malnutrition to increase survival for the betterment of tomorrow’s generation. Many parents are ignorant about the importance of feeding children on a balanced diet yet there are many malnourished children countrywide.”

Mujawamariya disclosed that the first garden will be established in Noer orphanage in Rubavu district before rolling out to other parts of the country.

The revelation comes a month after the Ministry of Health launched a mass campaign against nutrition deficiency.

Recent statistics from health officials revealed that at least 1 in every 4 children countrywide is malnourished, however medication and nutritional foods are being administered to reduce the figures.

In relation to the Day of the African child celebrations, the United Nations (UN) Millennium Campaign, yesterday, also called on African states, civil society organizations and the private sector to tackle child and maternal mortality, school dropout figures and poor quality standards of Universal Primary Education.

"Child survival, protection and development are not only universal aspirations enshrined in the Millennium Development Goals, but also human rights issues ratified in the International Convention on the Rights of Children.”

"They are also a part of the African charter on the rights and welfare of the child,” the UN Millennium Campaign Communications Coordinator and Acting Deputy Director for Africa, Sylvia Mwichuli said in a statement.

The concept note further commends countries like Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya and Ghana for their great success in uplifting children’s standards adding that this is related to the countries’ political will.

"Time and again, it has been proven that when political commitment is present, the results are often significant,” the statement adds.

Mujawamariya also affirmed government’s commitment to reduce the child mortality rates even further.

The day has been observed every year since 1991 in memory of thousands of black school children who were maimed and killed in the 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa, as they took to the streets to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language.

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