Malnutrition

“Malnutrition is the gravest single threat to the world’s public health” defines The World Health Organization. The United Nations defines malnutrition as a “state in which an individual can no longer maintain natural bodily capacities such as growth, pregnancy, lactation, learning abilities, physical work and resisting and recovering from disease.” Wonder how bad the situation with malnutrition can be? I do, and found tha over 1 billion people in the world do not have enough to eat! That's more than the entire population of the United States, Canada, and the European Union. Every 6 seconds a child dies from malnutrition and related causes. As per the statistics of Jean Ziegler (the United Nations Special Reporter 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 million people, all causes of death combined, die each year. One in twelve people worldwide is malnourished.” The shocking numbers can account to as many as more than 36 million that died of hunger or diseases due to deficiencies in micronutrients in 2006.
According to the World Health Organization, “malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality, present in half of all cases. 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”. Here we are speaking of people dying in Millions, the cause being such an avoidable enemy called Malnutrition!
The economist Amartya Sen observed that, in recent decades, famine has always a problem of food distribution and/or poverty, as there has been sufficient food to feed the whole population of the world but unfortunately the problem remains in the food distribution not the production. A country like China has enough production but the food doesn’t reach everyone in the villages and the factors like transportation play a role in fighting malnutrition. Another threat when it comes to solve this problem is the use of biofuels as a replacement for traditional fuels as an advancement of technology but this may leave less supply of food for nutrition and ultimately raises the price of food. However the good news is that there can be alternatives like The United Nations special reporter on the right to food, Jean Ziegler proposes that agricultural waste, such as corn cobs and banana leaves, rather than crops themselves be used as fuel.
The reasons for malnutrition may include various factors like lack of breastfeeding that can further limit the immunity of infants and children. Breastfeeding in the first two years and exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months could save 1.3 million children’s lives. Lack of education can lead to a strong notion in the developing world where may be that the average family thinks bottle feeding is better and another aspect that can’t be ignored is the fact that the Mothers themselves are not nourished well nor is proper care taken. Lack of education and awareness leads to improper upbringing of the child and then follows other problems like financial issues and thus we have deaths till date due to malnutrition even when there are food supplies rotting without use. Another very naively ignored fact is that deriving too much of one's diet from a single source, such as eating almost exclusively corn or rice, can cause malnutrition. This again either be from a lack of education about proper nutrition, or from only having access to a single food source.
The children of India are malnourished because of factors attributed to overpopulation, poverty, and destruction of the environment, lack of education, gender inequality, and inaccessible medical care. Poverty is a major cause of malnourishment because it limits the amount of food available to children causing wasting and a lack of vitamins, minerals and nutritional value leading to stunting and low weight. Overpopulation is a serious problem linked to competition for food, shelter and medical care and leads to malnutrition amongst children, especially in rural areas where access to medical care and food is limited. The population of India has increased from a billion people by 16 million annually escalating the severity of malnourishment and poverty. The environment is affected by pollution of the air, water and land causing problems with food growth, sanitation and illnesses spread through the air and water. A deficiency in the amount of food leaves millions starving, many of whom are children, unable to change their situation. Lack of education is a serious predicament resulting in malnourishment because many are illiterate and unknowledgeable about nutrition, family planning, breast-feeding and parenting. Gender inequality places women, the primary care givers of their children, at a lower social status then men and causes them to suffer more because they are last to eat and considered less important continuing the cycle of poverty and malnourishment. Availability of medical care and immunizations are limited to children diminishing their health. All these factors contribute to the devastating amount of malnourished children in India and assistance from the government and international organizations is crucial if this dilemma is to be improved. The UN estimates that 2.1 million Indian children die before reaching the age of 5 every year
Non nutritious food and over eating can also be a contributing factor for malnourishment. While developing and underdeveloped countries count on their grains to survive, the developed countries have access to a surplus of non-nutritious food, in addition to increased sedentary lifestyles that undoubtedly has led to universal epidemic of obesity. Yale psychologist Kelly Brownell calls this a "toxic food environment” where fat and sugar laden foods have taken precedent over healthy nutritious foods. Not only does obesity occur in developed countries, but in a quest for westernization problems are also occurring in developing countries in areas where income is on the rise] and the lifestyles are changing.
As per the 2001-03 statistics 217.5 million people in India are malnourished, followed by China accounting to 154 million people. Countries like Bangladesh with 43.5 and Pakisthan with 35.2 and Ethiopia with 31.2 millions are also suffering in the shadow of malnutrition. India contributes to about 5.6 million child deaths every year, more than half the world's total.] 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". Surprisingly 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
Inorder to combat Malnourishment agricultural practices need to be paid attention on. Food shortages can be caused by a lack of farming skills such as crop rotation, or by a lack of technology or resources needed for the higher yields found in modern agriculture, such as nitrogenfertilizers, pesticides and irrigation or even lack of facilities and support even from the Government. It would be wiser to Government to pay attention to optimize the yield than worrying about food shortage and how to cope up by importing or by other means. An unfortunate reality in few countered remains that due to widespread poverty, neither farmers nor can governments provide the technology. Many, if not most, farmers cannot afford fertilizer at market prices all thanks to the free market, leading to low agricultural production and wages and high, unaffordable food prices and thus while the farmer yields few crops to survive, he dies starving and so farmers committing suicides in countries like India are no more surprising.
Some initiatives have been done to reduce malnutrition, especially hunger. A great example has been done by Muhammad Yunus called The Grameen Bank to combat hunger. It provides small loans to help very poor women generate income and those loans can lift women out of poverty, and yet yield nutritional benefits. Some studies show when a woman is provided with an income, she will spend nearly all of it on household needs, especially food. Therefore, by focusing on women empowerment, poverty can be reduced, and also malnutrition, especially hunger can be fought.
Micro-credit initiatives focus predominantly on women because hunger disproportionately affects females more so than males and thus this is further carried on to the generations that follow. Removing hunger from the roots can be attained by empowering women, educating them, economic policies such as micro-credit initiatives that are a boon in reducing malnutrition by promoting both employment and educational opportunities and thus would the horizon grow leading to a healthier lifestyle and attaining the position to end the evil Hunger that takes so many innocent lives!!