Essay about The Problem of Malnutrition around the World

Despite the vast research on nutrition and health, malnutrition is still a major fatality in this present day. Policymakers, social scientist and medical experts have expressed alarm about the growing problem. While most agree that the issue deserves attention, consensus dissolves around how to respond and resolve the problem. Malnourishment continues to be a primary health liability in developing nations such as Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. It is globally the most significant risk factor for illness and death, predominantly with hundreds of millions of pregnant women

Redina and her family are refugees fleeing from ongoing conflict in their settlements. Unable to receive an adequate diet, they remain in a state of constant hunger, and prone to diseases. These are only a two of the effects malnutrition has on the human body. Malnutrition has been a lingering issue in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) causing several issues to the economy, health and wellbeing of the country. In spite of modern technology and conveniences, there are still populations in the world that are affected by malnutrition, therefore more worldwide collaborative efforts should be made, not only between the local groups, but the cooperative effort of international communities.

Starvation is a global concern that affects millions of children every day. It is also the top cause of death for children under the age of four, it takes the lives of more than 3.5 million children every year. Furthermore, without a treatment,

Children in need of these nutrients can suffer from stunted growth never reaching potential height. Statistics have shown stunted growth children score significantly lower on intelligence tests than do normal children. Hunger interferes with physical, emotional and academic development. According to Freedom from Hunger, “more than 4 million children will die due to hunger related causes.” NASW(2016) shows an important connection food security and nutrition play in physical and mental health.

References Shashidhar, H. (2016, March 10). Malnutrition. Retrieved September 27, 2016, from

A balanced nutrition for the first 3 years of a child’s life is extremely important to stabilize their mental and physical health in the future. Starvation is a common problem with poor families. It currently affects 49.1 million families in the United States. Undernutrition is the start to many diseases such as measles and malaria. If the children get these diseases, it is very likely that they don’t have health insurance to cover their illnesses and injuries. 15.8 million children have families who are not consistently stable to feed them. Food pantries are crowded and jam packed with people, that they don’t have enough food for all. The majority of canned foods and other donations are donated during Christmas or Thanksgiving when the food pantries need it the most. Nobody realizes that they need food all throughout the year. Food is the main component to fuel the body to grow and move. Poverty doesn’t just hurt a child physically through starvation, moreover mentally through learning

Mother of five, Cynthia, has a steady job at a nursing home as well as a supportive husband yet struggles to feed her family on a daily basis. Like many other Americans she does not qualify for government assistance because she makes too much; in her case thirty eight dollars too much. In cases like Cynthia’s, options seem incredibly limited and there is often no assistance for feeding her family (abcnews). Over 12 million children under the age of eighteen in the United States are food insecure. Meaning they are unable to consistently access adequate amounts of nutritious food necessary for a healthy life. More than three million children under the age of five are food insecure (Insecurity2012).

“What does malnutrition look like? Most of us think of bloated bellies or skin and bones, but the appearance of a hungry child might surprise you. Internationally hunger often stunts growth. Imagine a 9-year-old who appears to be only 5” (“Feed the Children.” Feed). Almost 1 billion kids worldwide live in poverty and 1 in 4 children around the world suffer from malnutrition that stunts growth (“Feed the Children.” Give). This is a very big problem not only in America but everywhere else, malnutrition is the cause of almost half of child deaths each year around the world (“Feed the Children.” Give). It is close to impossible for a malnourished child to recover from diarrhea or to fight off a small illness because their immune system is just simply too weak (“Feed the Children.”

This web page's goal is to introduce the visitor to the problem of world hunger and provide ways to access more information through books and other web sites. The page was created as a final project for an Environmental History class held at the University of Vermont spring semester 2000.

Malnutrition causes nearly half of all deaths in children under five. (Food Aid Foundation.) Millions of children, gone, into thin air. As if they never existed. Millions of stories, millions of futures, all dead, uncared for. More than 795 million people do not have access to enough food to live a healthy lifestyle. (Food Aid Foundation.) Potential scientists, doctors, and musicians will never be able to achieve their goals because they can’t even obtain food. In Haiti, a small central-american country, one out of every three children lose the ability to grow because of malnourishment (Naq, Oishimaya Sen.). The severity of malnourishment in Haiti causes Haitian children to acquire many terminal diseases and blood deficiencies (Naq, Oishimaya

Plumpy Nut innovation created a revelation in nutritional affairs in one of the most underdeveloped countries in West Africa. From the video, I learned that malnutrition kills five million children a year, that equals one child every six seconds. With such loss of lives from a preventable “disease,” Plumpy Nut moves my heart of compassion to action. Having seen malnutrition first-hand in India, I truly can empathize with the Doctors Without Borders who experience the throws of malnutrition in the villages and communities in which they offer their services. From the video, the narrator concurred that currently only 3% of 20 million are receiving food like Plumpy Nut. Clearly, there is a lack of ready-to-eat nutrient dense enriched food to offer for millions who are suffering from malnutrition. According to the Chief Nutritionist, Dr. Milton in the video, we essentially have a ‘medicine’ to create a spectacular response to save millions of lives.

Guatemala does not make the top 50 list of the world’s poorest countries, but somehow this country has the fourth largest rate of malnutrition. Malnutrition is defined as the lack of proper nutrition, cause by not having enough to eat. To truly understand the statistics one must first examine the diet of the average Guatemalan family. In understanding the severity of this issue across the country, the effect on the children, both long and short term, and the multi-generational effects of this epidemic, a solution can be pinpointed to deal with this devastating problem. It is important to know what these children are consuming on a daily bases in order to tell where the child is missing nutrients.

A large problem of childhood poverty is malnutrition. Since these children are growing up in poverty, many of the parents have a hard time supplying food for their kids. Surprisingly, there

World hunger has been a constant problem throughout the ages. It is a problem that should be able to be solved easily, yet there are still 1.02 billion undernourished people worldwide. With the world population being 6.7 billion people, and the Earth producing more than enough food for this amount of people, why is it that there are hungry, malnourished people all around the globe?

For most us Americans, knowing when we’re going to eat next is something we very rarely think of, and when we do think about being hungry we still know where our food is coming from. Three big meals a day, and a few snacks in between, is how most of us live. It’s hard for us to imagine what its like for those who go days eating very little or nothing at all. But unfortunately that’s how it is for most of the world and surprisingly it happens in the United Sates as well. There are many reasons malnutrition can happen, and it happens to every age group. Even though there are many ways to treat it, in the