Malnutrition As A Growing Problem

Every year, malnutrition is responsible for at least 3.1 million deaths in children under the age of five, which is roughly 45 percent of deaths among children.

Though centers in various countries have been set up, their lack of success in eliminating malnutrition can be attributed to both insufficient hygienic quality and lack of resources at the centers. A set of reports were published by Lancet yesterday, which "re-evaluate the problems of maternal and child [malnutrition] and also examine the growing problems of overweight and obesity for women and children, and their consequences in low-income and middle-income countries." The study goes on to state that roughly 15 percent of deaths in children under the age of five could be avoided by providing children and pregnant women with the appropriate vitamin A and zinc supplements.

Professor Robert Black of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health stated, "Malnutrition can haunt children for the rest of their lives. Undernourished children are more susceptible to infectious diseases and achieve less education and have lower cognitive abilities." Black goes on to explain that the first two years of the child's life are the most important years to provide a child with proper nutritional value, and that if this was done, the mortality rate from malnutrition would decrease drastically.