Interrelationships Between Nutritional Deficiencies in the Third World

Health is one of the major problems in third world countries such as India. One of the many reasons why this occurs is because of poverty. Poverty will eat you slowly till you die; it is one of the reasons why most of the babies were not vaccinated, there were poor support from the government about the health of the people and some of the medicines were not provided and usually the cost is unaffordable.

The nutritional deficiencies affect child's health such as insufficient vitamins, iron and iodine. And it is not only the child that are affected but also women particularly those who are pregnant. Lack of Vitamin A leads to blindness and can lead to death for severe infection. Lack of Iron leads to anemia because iron supplies the red blood cells and if this cannot be supplied white blood cells will increase thus will lead to anemia or leukemia. Lack of iodine leads to goiter and the thyroid gland will not function properly. Some government nowadays included in their plan the action on helping their countrymen improve the health of the population. Like in India based on the http://www.jsi.com/international/omni/india.htm:

In May 1996, the Government of India (GOI) developed an Action Plan on Nutrition and established a task force for each micronutrient to: identify strategies for different age groups, suggest improvements in delivery mechanisms of existing interventions, prepare mass communication plans, and suggest intersectoral coordination mechanisms in accordance with the country's commitment to the goals of the International Conference on Nutrition.

In this, the Vitamin A was given in doses to children through immunization as well as those who need it and iron-folic acids acts as a supplements that were given also to children one to eleven years old. Iodine was included in salt because salt are often use in foods that we eat.

In the developing countries particularly those belong to the third world country, the acute respiratory infection (ARI) kills millions of people prematurely but these can be prevented and can be treated however because of lack of dissemination of information they were not treated. According to the online source, http://dcc2.bumc.bu.edu/IH887/presentations98/ari-txt.htm:

Acute respiratory infections are responsible for 8.2% of the world's total burden of disability and premature mortality and are the leading cause of childhood morbidity.

Acute respiratory infection can be attributed to an interaction between the host, the infectious agent, and the environment. Although 80% of all cases of pneumonia examined in hospitals in developing countries are caused by two types of bacteria, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae, most other infections are of viral origin (1). Other risk factors that encourage the spread of ARI include: low birth weight, malnutrition, poor breast-feeding practices, specific nutritional deficiencies (especially Vitamin A), chilling in young infants, indoor air pollution (such as smoke from cooking fuels and tobacco), urban air pollution, illiteracy, overcrowding, poor hygiene, lack of access to health services (especially immunizations), and low socioeconomic status.

Some non-governmental organizations including the World Health Organization were helping to control the occurrence of ARI again through proper dissemination of information about it and have to prevent and treat it.

Severe diarrhea needs enough sustenance of food so that it will replenish loss of energy. If diarrhea has been prolonged or commonly known as "acute protracted diarrhea" it may cause death. One of the reason why diarrhea occur is because of unclean and unsafe environment specially the food we eat and the water we drink.

"Oral rehydration solution" is one of the recommended treatments for people who have diarrhea. Based on the online source, http://www.aafp.org/afp/981115ap/eliason.html:

The AAP recommended rapid rehydration in four to six hours with an oral glucose-electrolyte rehydration solution followed by diluted formula or milk. Contrary to widespread belief and practice, lactose-based milk does not have to be eliminated. In older infants or children, rice cereal, bananas, potatoes or other nonlactose, carbohydrate-rich foods should be offered shortly after successful rehydration.