Causes and treatment of malnutrition in developing countries

Global Nutrition

According to WHO (http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/malnutrition/en/),protein-energy malnutrition is responsible for half of all under-five deaths each year in developing countries. Malnutrition can also cause chronic wasting of fat, muscle and other tissues, cretinism, irreversible brain damage, blindness and increased risk of infection and death from vitamin A deficiency.

Undernutrition is a disease of poverty and social exclusion, unhealthy environments and poor access to vital services..." (http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_36170.html).Poverty -- at the household, community and national levels -- results in lack of access to such basic necessities as food. A second cause is ignorance combined with prejudice against women, which deprives them of the rest and care they require during pregnancy and lactation, as well as access to education and economic resources (http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/subjindx/113hung.htm).Malnutrition is particularly acute in developing countries where an estimated 10% of children under five suffer from acute undernutrition (http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_36170.html).One third of the world's hungry people are South Asian; one quarter are from sub-Saharan Africa and the next largest populations are in East and Southeast Asia and in Latin America (http://www.thp.org/who_we_are/faq).

Unfortunately, malnutrition during war usually becomes more severe because militias commonly destroy, damage or loot crops, agricultural areas, livestock and drinking water installations (http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11293&Cr=sudan&Cr1=).

In the United States, food is more readily available than in developing countries. Yet, there are still amply cases of malnutrition. The types I've cases I've seen while growing up have stemmed from the economic realities of low-income households who lacked the financial resources for food and/or the education and awareness to make good nutritional decisions and to seek the appropriate assistance to help their families.