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Millions of dead children due to malnutrition

African countries particularly affected: millions of dead children due to malnutrition

08/06/2013

More than three million children die each year as a result of malnutrition. Particularly affected are people in the poor countries of the world, especially in Africa.

Death before the fifth birthday
In the latest issue of the medical journal „Lancet“ A new study reports that malnutrition is the cause of nearly half of all deaths among children under the age of five worldwide. („“) According to the study, around 3.1 million children die every year before their fifth birthday, because they do not get enough or unbalanced food. The lack of vitamins or minerals such as zinc or iron are among the most common deficiency symptoms. One problem is also bad practices in breastfeeding babies. Robert Black of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, USA, and his team also investigated the effects of physical underdevelopment in relation to height, weight, and age in the study , For 2011, they came to the conclusion that about 165 million children worldwide were too small for their age. Relative to their size, around 50 million were too small and 100 million were not enough for their age. Especially affected were children in Africa and Asia.

Poverty is the root of evil
A look at the world map of the study shows that especially sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are affected by malnutrition. Thus, the world's ten poorest countries are all on the African continent, and a general comparison of the weakest nations of the world coincides, unsurprisingly, with the countries that suffer most from the problems of lack of nutrition. The causes are manifold, but it is generally accepted that poverty is the main reason for the evil. In addition to the poverty in principle, it is above all the often unaffordable high prices for staple foods that can be a disaster for the population. The high prices are caused, among other things, by global speculation with food or by the cultivation of biofuel raw materials such as oil palms. Climate change is also contributing to the rise in prices. The World Health Organization (WHO) fears an increase in the number of undernourished women and children in developing countries by 20 percent by 2020.

Politics is needed
But the team of scientists in Baltimore also emphasized that malnutrition does not just limit the physical development of children. Often, these children could only perform worse at school and showed a higher susceptibility to infectious diseases. The responsible politicians of the upcoming G8 summit in Northern Ireland in the middle of the month are called on by researchers to take further measures against malnutrition. On the other hand, they see new deficiencies also being added to the rich industrial nations: dangers due to being overweight among expectant mothers and children. (Sb)