Scientists say that the first 1000 days that is from conception to the second birthday of a child is vital. It is during this period that the infant’s body and brain develop at a rapid pace. Increasing scientific evidences show that meeting the specific nutritional needs during the first 1000 days, and beyond, will positively influence short and long term health outcomes. This highlights the importance of two primary objectives that need to be taken care of for making healthier humankind. The first is definitely the mother’s health. A mother being the sole source of nutrition for the developing embryo and fetus during pregnancy as well as being the one who breastfeeds her baby after its birth, is definitely the key to build the future of the world. To make her children physically and mentally strong, she needs vitamins - D, B2, B6, B12 -- and minerals - iron, iodine, folic acid, calcium and quality of fat (DHA) -- in her daily diet.

Undoubtedly, the second objective must be to highlight the importance of breastfeeding as the discovery of the magic of the first 1000 days has added another indispensable reason for sticking to breast milk as it contains valuable antibiotics that help prevent disease and increase brain power of the baby.

Sujit De, Kolkata

Traffic

I am writing this piece in reference to the news story “Traffic along Araniko Highway affected” (THT, September 3, Page 3). It is so miserable that when we construct the roads we do not tend to think about an alternative to the road even for the time the service is disrupted. We do not think about the futuristic obstacles when we construct roads. Part of the reason may have been the difficulty that is posed by the geographical structure and the economic reason. However, whatever the reason, we always need to think about an alternative way. In Western countries the transport department takes the responsibility for transporting people and goods in the replacement vehicle. I think this is a high time there should be predictability in our mindset.

Shiva Neupane, Melbourne

No signals

Worst service, people telling lie and ill-mannered staffers. Just three days ago I decided to trust the Mero TV for set-top boxes and I am now lamenting decision. The cause is that there is no signal or there are scrambled channels just when you require some entertainment to soothe your tired soul after office time.

Each day, the signal starts to come fine from around 6 in the morning and then starts to deteriorate from 5 p.m. The signal is then completely down from 6.30/7 p.m. When I make a call they say their technician will look into the problem but to no avail. When the lines go down, there is no one to fix the problem.

Sandeep Bhattarai, Bansbari