Jump to content

Malnutrition

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 71.72.235.91 (talk) at 03:49, 5 July 2009 (Spelling correction.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Malnutrition
SpecialtyEndocrinology, intensive care medicine, nutrition Edit this on Wikidata

Malnutrition is a general term for a medical condition caused by an improper or inadequate diet and nutrition.[1][2] A number of different nutrition disorders may arise, depending on which nutrients are under or overabundant in the diet.

The World Health Organization cites hunger as the gravest single threat to the world's public health.[3] Malnutrition is, by far, the biggest contributor to infant and child mortality, present in half of all cases.[3] Malnutrition, in the form of iodine deficiency, is the most common cause of mental impairment, reducing the world's IQ by an estimated billion points.[4][5] Improving nutrition is widely regarded as the most affective form of aid.[3][6]

Causes

Food insecurity

The World Bank and some rich nations press nations that depend on them for aid to cut back or eliminate subsidized agricultural inputs such as fertilizer, in the name of free market policies even as the United States and Europe extensively subsidized their own farmers.[7][8] Many, if not most, of the farmers are too poor to afford fertilizer at market prices, leading to low wages in local farming and high, unaffordable food prices.[7]

Overpopulation

The economist Thomas Malthus noted how increases in food production were likely to occur along a slow arithmetic progression due to the law of diminishing returns while population growth follows much faster, geometric progressions causing food shortages and famines. This Malthusian argument has long since been refuted on several grounds but has nonetheless served as a backdrop for understanding of the causes of malnutrition. Over-cultivation, overgrazing, and deforestation lead to desertification or otherwise impoverished soils that can not support crops or cattle for subsistence agriculture[9] but this scenario only accounts for malnutrition in certain, specific instances and does not consider larger social issues such as the influence of political inequality. Economist and philosopher Amartya Sen whose breakthrough 1981 book Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation went beyond the Malthusian argument that lack of food production led to hunger and demonstrated that malnutrition and famine were more related to problems of food distribution and purchasing power.[10] A person’s entitlements, according to Sen, are “commodity bundles that a person in society can command using the totality of rights and opportunities that he or she faces,” (p.8) and famine can then be described as a collapse of entitlements for a certain segment of society and the failure of the state to protect those entitlements.

Further, malnutrition can stem from impacts of natural disasters, from the results of conflict and war, as an impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic[11] as a consequence of other health issues such as diarrheal disease or chronic illness [1] from lack of education regarding proper nutrition, or from countless other potential factors.

Climate change

With 95% of all malnourished peoples living in the relatively stable climate region of the sub-tropics and tropics, climate change is of great importance to food security in these regions. According to the latest IPCC reports, temperature increases in these regions are "very likely."[12] Even small changes in temperatures can lead to increased frequency of extreme weather conditions.[13] Many of these have great impact on agricultural production and hence nutrition. For example, the 1998-2001 central Asian drought brought about an 80% livestock loss and 50% reduction in wheat and barley crops in Iran.[14] Similar figures were present in other nations. An increase in extreme weather such as drought in regions such as Sub-Saharan would have even greater consequences in terms of malnutrition. Even without an increase of extreme weather events, a simple increase in temperature reduces the productiveness of many crop species, also decreasing food security in these regions.[15]

Effects

See also: child mortality and iodine deficiency

Malnutrition kills many times more from not getting enough micronutrients, such as iron and zinc, rather than from simply starving to death, as is commonly imagined. [6] According to Jean Ziegler (the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food for 2000 to March 2008), mortality due to malnutrition accounted for 58% of the total mortality in 2006: "In the world, approximately 62 millions people, all causes of death combined, die each year. One in twelve people worldwide are malnourished.[16] In 2006, more than 36 millions died of hunger or diseases due to deficiencies in micronutrients"[17]. The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed and one-third is starving. [16]

According to the World Health Organization, malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality. Underweight births and inter-uterine growth restrictions cause 2.2 million child deaths a year. Poor or non-existent breastfeeding causes another 1.4 million. Other deficiencies, such as lack of vitamin A or zinc, for example, account for 1 million. According to The Lancet, malnutrition in the first two years is irreversible. Malnourished children grow up with worse health and lower educational achievements. Their own children also tend to be smaller. Hunger was previously seen as something that exacerbates the problems of diseases such as measles, pneumonia and diarrhea. But malnutrition actually causes diseases as well, and can be fatal in its own right.[3]

Malnutrition increases the risk of infection and infectious disease; for example, it is a major risk factor in the onset of active tuberculosis.[18] In communities or areas that lack access to safe drinking water, these additional health risks present a critical problem. Lower energy and impaired function of the brain also represent the downward spiral of malnutrition as victims are less able to perform the tasks they need to in order to acquire food, earn an income, or gain an education.

The Lancet, the British medical journal, reported that “Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of preventable mental impairment worldwide.”[4] Even moderate iodine deficiency, especially in pregnant women and infants, lowers intelligence by 10 to 15 I.Q. points, shaving incalculable potential off a nation’s development.[4] The most visible and severe effects — disabling goiters, cretinism and dwarfism — affect a tiny minority, usually in mountain villages. But 16 percent of the world’s people have at least mild goiter, a swollen thyroid gland in the neck.[4]

Lifelong malnutrition can begin in utero and this can be associated with the mother's stature (associated with her childhood nutritional status), her nutritional status prior to conception, and diarrheal disease, intestinal parasites, and/or respiratory infection status. Multiple studies have shown that nutritional status of adults is substantially influenced by their nutritional experience from conception through early childhood. Even if individuals have had adequate nutrition from childhood on, their health outcomes are still impacted. [19] Children are not only affected by the consequences of malnourishment, but the societies they live in suffer as well. Both severe and moderate cases of malnutrition have a significant impact on the outcomes children face for the remainder of their lives and are also a cause of severe illnesses leading to growth retardation both physical and mental, and possibly death. Considering the elevated risks of mortality among children that are associated with moderate forms of malnutrition, combined with a high prevalence worldwide, it would seem more appropriate to distinguish that the deaths of children as a result of malnourishment is attributable to moderate, rather than severe conditions of malnutrition.

Malnutrition appears to increase activity and movement in many animals - for example an experiment on spiders showed increased activity and predation in starved spiders, resulting in larger weight gain.[20] This pattern is seen in many animals, including humans while sleeping.[21] It even occurs in rats with their cerebral cortex or stomachs completely removed.[22] Increased activity on hamster wheels occurred when rats were deprived not only of food, but also water or B vitamins such as thiamine[23] This response may increase the animal's chance of finding food, though it has also been speculated the emigration response relieves pressure on the home population.[21]

Obesity is associated with many diseases, particularly heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties during sleep, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.

Response to malnutrition

Main articles: Ready-to-Use Therapeutic food and famine relief

Fighting malnutrition, mostly through fortifying micronutrients, improves lives at a lower cost and shorter time than other forms of aid, according to the World Bank.[5] The Copenhagen Consensus, which look at a variety of development proposals, ranked micronutrient supplements as number one. [6] [24] However, roughly $300m of aid goes to basic nutrition each year, less than $2 for each child below two in the 20 worst affected countries.[3] In contrast, HIV/AIDS, which causes fewer deaths than child malnutrition, received $2.2 billion—$67 per person with HIV in all countries.[3]

Emergency measures

Micronutrients are typically obtained through fortifying foods.[6] Fortifying foods such as Spirulina and peanut butter sachets, such as Plumpy'Nut, have revolutionized emergency feeding in humanitarian emergencies because they can be eaten directly from the packet, do not require refrigeration or mixing with scarce clean water, can be stored for years and vitally can be absorbed by extremely ill children.[25] The United Nations World Food Conference of 1974 declared Spirulina as 'the best food for the future' and its ready harvest every 24 hours make it a potent tool to eradicate malnutrition.

There is a growing realization among aid groups that giving cash or cash vouchers instead of food is a cheaper, faster, and more efficient way to deliver help to the hungry, particularly in areas where food is available but unaffordable.[26] The UN's World Food Program, the biggest non-governmental distributor of food, announced that it will begin distributing cash and vouchers instead of food in some areas, which Josette Sheeran, the WFP's executive director, described as a "revolution" in food aid.[26][27] The aid agency Concern Worldwide is piloting an method through a mobile phone operator, Safaricom, which runs a money transfer program that allows cash to be sent from one part of the country to another.[26]

However, for people in a drought living a long way from and with limited access to markets, delivering food may be the most appropriate way to help.[26] In his book on famine, Fred Cuny stated that "the chances of saving lives at the outset of a relief operation are greatly reduced when food is imported. By the time it arrives in the country and gets to people, many will have died."- Andrew S. Natsios (Administrator U.S. Agency for International Development). US Law, which requires buying food at home rather than where the hungry live, is inefficient because approximately half of what is spent goes for transport.[28] Fred Cuny further pointed out "Studies of every recent famine have shown that food was available in-country — though not always in the immediate food deficit area" and "Even though by local standards the prices are too high for the poor to purchase it, it would usually be cheaper for a donor to buy the hoarded food at the inflated price than to import it from abroad." from memorandum to former Representative Steve Solarz (United States, Democratic Party, New York) - July 1994. Ethiopia has been pioneering a program that has now become part of the World Bank's prescribed recipe for coping with a food crisis and had been seen by aid organizations as a model of how to best help hungry nations. Through the country's main food assistance program, the Productive Safety Net Program, Ethiopia has been giving rural residents who are chronically short of food, a chance to work for food or cash. In addition, foreign aid organizations like the World Food Program were then able to buy food locally from surplus areas to distribute in areas with a shortage of food.[29]

Long term measures

Main article: food security

Supporting farmers in areas of food insecurity, through such measures as free or subsidized fertilizers and seeds, increases food harvest and reduces food prices.[7][30] For example, in the case of Malawi, almost five million of its 13 million people used to need emergency food aid. However, after the government changed policy and subsidies for fertilizer and seed were introduced against World Bank strictures, farmers produced record-breaking corn harvests in 2006 and 2007 as production leaped to 3.4 million in 2007 from 1.2 million in 2005.[7] This lowered food prices and increased wages for farm workers.[7] Malawi became a major food exporter, selling more corn to the World Food Program and the United Nations than any other country in Southern Africa.[7] Proponents for helping the farmers includes the economist Jeffrey Sachs, who has championed the idea that wealthy countries should invest in fertilizer and seed for Africa’s farmers.[7]

Since poor or non-existent breast-feeding leads to 1.4 million child deaths, breast-feeding advice helps. In the longer term, firms are trying to fortify everyday foods with micronutrients that can be sold to consumers such as wheat flour for Beladi bread in Egypt or fish sauce in Vietnam and the iodization of salt.[25]

Restricting population size

Restricting population size is a proposed solution. Thomas Malthus argued that population growth could be done by natural disasters and voluntary limits through “moral restraint.”[31] Robert Chapman suggests that an intervention through government policies is a necessary ingredient of curtailing global population growth.[32] Garret Hardin takes an anti-immigration, isolationist approach arguing that “…all sovereign states must accept the responsibility of solving their population problems in their own territories" and that immigration acts as a sort of pressure release valve which allows countries to continue to ignore solving their population problems.[33]

For Amaryta Sen, “no matter how a famine is caused, methods of breaking it call for a large supply of food in the public distribution system. This applies not only to organizing rationing and control, but also to undertaking work programmes and other methods of increasing purchasing power for those hit by shifts in exchange entitlements in a general inflationary situation.”[34]

One suggested policy framework to resolve access issues is termed food sovereignty, the right of peoples to define their own food, agriculture, livestock, and fisheries systems in contrast to having food largely subjected to international market forces. Food First is one of the primary think tanks working to build support for food sovereignty. Neoliberals advocate for an increasing role of the free market. The World Bank itself claims to be part of the solution to malnutrition, asserting that the best way for countries to succeed in breaking the cycle of poverty and malnutrition is to build export-led economies that will give them the financial means to buy foodstuffs on the world market.

Malnutrition demographics

Statistics

See also: Global Hunger Index

There were 923 million hungry people in the world in 2007, an increase of 80 million since 1990,[35] despite the fact that the world already produces enough food to feed everyone - 6 billion people - and could feed the double - 12 billion people.[36]

Year 1990 1995 2005 2007
Hungry people in the world (millions)[37] 842 832 848 923
Year 1970 1980 1990 2005 2007
Share of hungry people in the developing world[38][39] 37 % 28 % 20 % 16 % 17 %
  • On the average, a person dies every second as a result of hunger - 4000 every hour - 100 000 each day - 36 million each year - 58 % of all deaths (2001-2004 estimates).[40][41][42]
  • On the average, a child dies every 5 seconds as a result of hunger - 700 every hour - 16 000 each day - 6 million each year - 60% of all child deaths (2002-2008 estimates).[43][44][45][46][47]
Percentage of population affected by undernutrition by country, according to United Nations statistics.

Number of undernourished people (million) in 2001-2003, according to the FAO, the following countries had 5 million or more undernourished people [2]:

Country Number of Undernourished (million)
India 217.05
China 154.0
Bangladesh 43.45
Democratic Republic of Congo 37.0
Pakistan 35.2
Ethiopia 31.5
Tanzania 16.1
Philippines 15.2
Brazil 14.4
Indonesia 13.8
Vietnam 13.8
Thailand 13.4
Nigeria 11.5
Kenya 9.7
Sudan 8.8
Mozambique 8.3
North Korea 7.9
Yemen 7.1
Madagascar 7.1
Colombia 5.9
Zimbabwe 5.7
Mexico 5.1
Zambia 5.1
Angola 5.0

Note: This table measures "undernourishment", as defined by FAO, and represents the number of people consuming (on average for years 2001 to 2003) less than the minimum amount of food energy (measured in kilocalories per capita per day) necessary for the average person to stay in good health while performing light physical activity. It is a conservative indicator that does not take into account the extra needs of people performing extraneous physical activity, nor seasonal variations in food consumption or other sources of variability such as inter-individual differences in energy requirements.

Malnutrition and undernourishment are cumulative or average situations, and not the work of a single day's food intake (or lack thereof). This table does not represent the number of people who "went to bed hungry today."

Various scales of analysis also have to be considered in order to determine the sociopolitical causes of malnutrition. For example, the population of a community may be at risk if it lacks health-related services, but on a smaller scale certain households or individuals may be at even higher risk due to differences in income levels, access to land, or levels of education [48]. Also within the household, there may be differences in levels of malnutrition between men and women, and these differences have been shown to vary significantly from one region to another with problem areas showing relative deprivation of women [49]. Children and the elderly tend to be especially susceptible. Approximately 27 percent of children under 5 in developing world are malnourished, and in these developing countries, malnutrition claims about half of the 10 million deaths each year of children under 5.

Middle East

Malnutrition rates in Iraq had risen from 19% before the US-led invasion to a national average of 28% four years later.[50]

South Asia

According to the Global Hunger Index, South Asia has the highest child malnutrition rate of world's regions.[51] India contributes to about 5.6 million child deaths every year, more than half the world's total.[52] The 2006 report mentioned that "the low status of women in South Asian countries and their lack of nutritional knowledge are important determinants of high prevalence of underweight children in the region" and was concerned that South Asia has "inadequate feeding and caring practices for young children".[52]

United States

Childhood malnutrition is generally thought of as being limited to developing countries, but although most malnutrition occurs there, it is also an ongoing presence in developed nations. For example, in the United States of America, one out of every six children is at risk of hunger.[53] A study, based on 2005-2007 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Agriculture Department, shows that an estimated 3.5 million children under the age of five are at risk of hunger in the United States.[54] In developed countries, this persistent hunger problem is not due to lack of food or food programs, but is largely due to an underutilization of existing programs designed to address the issue, such as food stamps or school meals. Many citizens of rich countries such as the United States of America attach stigmas to food programs or otherwise discourage their use. In the USA, only 60% of those eligible for the food stamp program actually receive benefits.[55] The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that in 2003, only 1 out of 200 U.S. households with children became so severely food insecure that any of the children went hungry even once during the year. A substantially larger proportion of these same households (3.8 percent) had adult members who were hungry at least one day during the year because of their households' inability to afford enough food.[3]

See also

Organizations

References

  1. ^ "malnutrition" at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
  2. ^ Sullivan, arthur (2003). Economics: Principles in action. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458: Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 481. ISBN 0-13-063085-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Malnutrition The Starvelings
  4. ^ a b c d In raising the world’s IQ the secret is in salt
  5. ^ a b Raising the world’s IQ Cite error: The named reference "IQ" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c d The Hidden Hinger
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts
  8. ^ Zambia: fertile but hungry
  9. ^ Darkow, M.B.K. "Desertification: Its Human Costs" Forum for Applied Research and Policy. (1996) 11:12-17.
  10. ^ Sen, A.K. Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (1981)
  11. ^ Baro, Mamadou and Tara F. Duebel "Persistent Hunger: Perspectives on Vulnerability, Famine, and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa" Annual Anthropological Review. (2006) 35:521-38.
  12. ^ "Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report." 12-17 Nov 2007. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 5 Nov 2008 <http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf>.
  13. ^ "Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report." 12-17 Nov 2007. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 5 Nov 2008 <http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf>.
  14. ^ Battista, David. "Climate Change in Developing Countries." University of Washington. Seattle. 27 Oct 2008.
  15. ^ "Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report." 12-17 Nov 2007. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 5 Nov 2008 <http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf>.
  16. ^ a b http://library.thinkquest.org/C002291/high/present/stats.htm
  17. ^ Jean Ziegler, L'Empire de la honte, Fayard, 2007 ISBN 978-2-253-12115-2 p.130.
  18. ^ Schaible UE, Kaufmann SH (2007). "Malnutrition and infection: complex mechanisms and global impacts". PLoS Med. 4 (5): e115. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040115. PMID 17472433.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  19. ^ Behrman, J.R., Harold Alderman, and John Hoddinott. 2004. Hunger and Malnutrition. Copenhagen consensus-Challenges and Opportunities. http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com
  20. ^ Provencher, L.; Riechert, S.E. (1991) Short-Term Effects of Hunger Conditioning on Spider Behavior, Predation, and Gain of Weight Oikos 62:160-166
  21. ^ a b Wald, G.; Jackson, B. (1944) Activity and Nutritional Deprivation Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 30:255-263
  22. ^ "George Wald: The Origin of Death". Retrieved 2007-05-14.
  23. ^ Guerrant, N.B., Dutcher, R.A. (1940) Journal of Nutrition 20:589.
  24. ^ Let them eat micronutrients
  25. ^ a b [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8114750.stm Firms target nutrition for the poor]
  26. ^ a b c d UN aid debate: give cash not food?
  27. ^ Cash roll-out to help hunger hot spots
  28. ^ Let them eat micronutrients
  29. ^ A model of African food aid is now in trouble
  30. ^ How a Kenyan village tripled its corn harvest
  31. ^ Malthus, Robert Thomas. 1976 (1798). An Essay on the Principle of Population. Philip Appleman, ed. New York: Norton.
  32. ^ Chapman, Robert. 1999. “No Room at the Inn, or Why Population Problems are Not All Economic.” Population and Environment, 21(1): 81-97.
  33. ^ Hardin, Garrett. 1992. “The Ethics of Population Growth and Immigration Control.” In Crowding Out the Future: World Population Growth, US Immigration, and Pressures on Natural Resources, Robert W. Fox and Ira H. Melham, eds. Washington, DC: Federation for American Immigration Reform.
  34. ^ Sen, Amartya. 1982. Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlements and Deprivation, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  35. ^ Food and Agriculture Organization Economic and Social Development Department. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2008 : High food prices and food security - threats and opportunities”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008, p. 2. “FAO’s most recent estimates put the number of hungry people at 923 million in 2007, an increase of more than 80 million since the 1990–92 base period.”.
  36. ^ Jean Ziegler. “Promotion And Protection Of All Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social And Cultural Rights, Including The Right To Development: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler”. Human Rights Council of the United Nations, January10, 2008.“According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the world already produces enough food to feed every child, woman and man and could feed 12 billion people, or double the current world population.”
  37. ^ Food and Agriculture Organization Economic and Social Development Department. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2008 : High food prices and food security - threats and opportunities”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008, p. 48.
  38. ^ Food and Agriculture Organization Agricultural and Development Economics Division. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006 : Eradicating world hunger – taking stock ten years after the World Food Summit”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2006, p. 8. “Because of population growth, the very small decrease in the number of hungry people has nevertheless resulted in a reduction in the proportion of undernourished people in the developing countries by 3 percentage points – from 20 percent in 1990–92 to 17 percent in 2001–03. (…) the prevalence of undernourishment declined by 9 percent (from 37 percent to 28 percent) between 1969–71 and 1979–81 and by a further 8 percentage points (to 20 percent) between 1979–81 and 1990–92.”.
  39. ^ Food and Agriculture Organization Economic and Social Development Department. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2008 : High food prices and food security - threats and opportunities”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008, p. 6. “Good progress in reducing the share of hungry people in the developing world had been achieved – down from almost 20 percent in 1990–92 to less than 18 percent in 1995–97 and just above 16 percent in 2003–05. The estimates show that rising food prices have thrown that progress into reverse, with the proportion of undernourished people worldwide moving back towards 17 percent.”.
  40. ^ Jean Ziegler. “The Right to Food: Report by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Mr. Jean Ziegler, Submitted in Accordance with Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2000/10”. United Nations, February 7, 2001, p. 5. “On average, 62 million people die each year, of whom probably 36 million (58 per cent) directly or indirectly as a result of nutritional deficiencies, infections, epidemics or diseases which attack the body when its resistance and immunity have been weakened by undernourishment and hunger.”.
  41. ^ Commission on Human Rights. “The right to food : Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/25”. Office Of The High Commissioner For Human Rights, United Nations, April 22, 2002, p. 2. “every year 36 million people die, directly or indirectly, as a result of hunger and nutritional deficiencies, most of them women and children, particularly in developing countries, in a world that already produces enough food to feed the whole global population”.
  42. ^ United Nations Information Service. “Independent Expert On Effects Of Structural Adjustment, Special Rapporteur On Right To Food Present Reports: Commission Continues General Debate On Economic, Social And Cultural Rights”. United Nations, March 29, 2004, p. 6. “Around 36 million people died from hunger directly or indirectly every year.”.
  43. ^ Food and Agriculture Organization Staff. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2002: Food Insecurity : when People Live with Hunger and Fear Starvation”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2002, p. 6. “6 million children under the age of five, die each year as a result of hunger.”
  44. ^ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Economic and Social Dept. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2004: Monitoring Progress Towards the World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goals”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2004, p. 8. “Undernourishment and deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals cost more than 5 million children their lives every year”.
  45. ^ Jacques Diouf. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2004: Monitoring Progress Towards the World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goals”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2004, p. 4. “one child dies every five seconds as a result of hunger and malnutrition”.
  46. ^ Food and Agriculture Organization, Economic and Social Dept. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2005: Eradicating World Hunger - Key to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2005, p. 18. “Hunger and malnutrition are the underlying cause of more than half of all child deaths, killing nearly 6 million children each year – a figure that is roughly equivalent to the entire preschool population of Japan. Relatively few of these children die of starvation. The vast majority are killed by neonatal disorders and a handful of treatable infectious diseases, including diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria and measles. Most would not die if their bodies and immune systems had not been weakened by hunger and malnutrition moderately to severely underweight, the risk of death is five to eight times higher.”.
  47. ^ Human Rights Council. “Resolution 7/14. The right to food”. United Nations, March 27, 2008, p. 3. “6 million children still die every year from hunger-related illness before their fifth birthday”.
  48. ^ Fotso, Jean-Christophe and Barthelemy Kuate-Defo. "Measuring Socio-economic Status in Health Research in Developing Countries: Should We Be Focusing on Households, Communities, or Both?" Social Indicators Research. (2005) 72:189-237.
  49. ^ Nube, M. and G.J.M. van dem Boom. "Gender and Adult Undernutrition in Developing Countries." Annals of Human Biology (2003) 30:5:520-537.
  50. ^ Third of Iraqi children now malnourished four years after US invasion Reuters. 16 March, 2007
  51. ^ "2008 Global Hunger Index Key Findings & Facts". 2008.
  52. ^ a b "'Hunger critical' in South Asia". BBC. 2006.
  53. ^ "Childhood Hunger in America". Share Our Strength. 2009.
  54. ^ "3.5M Kids Under 5 On Verge Of Going Hungry
    Study: 11 Percent Of U.S. Households Lack Food For Healthy Lifestyle"     ("SHTML). Health. CBS NEWS. 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  55. ^ "Plan to End Childhood Hunger in America". Share Our Strength. 2009.
Look up malnutrition or undernutrition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Malnutrition&oldid=300346163"