Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest exporter of petroleum oil and has an unemployment rate approximately 64 percent lower than the rest of the world. Through this economic success, malnutrition in Saudi Arabia remains a prevalent issue.

The indicators of nutritional imbalances among children 5 years or younger include stunting, wasting, being underweight and overweight. Stunting refers to a low height at a given age and wasting refers to a low weight for a specific height at a given age. Nutritional imbalances such as these result in malnutrition.

In the 2000s, malnutrition in Saudi Arabia for children 5 or younger was significant: 5.3 percent of the youth were underweight, 9.3 percent of the children were stunting, 11.8 percent of children were wasting and 6.1 percent of children were overweight.

These percentages of malnourished youth in Saudi Arabia may seem small and insignificant, but when compared to U.S. percentages of malnourishment it provides perspective to the real issue at hand.

During that same years, only 0.5 percent of children in the U.S. were underweight, 2.1 percent were stunted, 0.5 percent of children were wasting, and only 6 percent of children were overweight.

Although a portion of Saudi Arabia’s 28.7 million population live in wealth, approximately 20 percent of Saudi Arabia live in severe poverty. This percentage of individuals living in poverty correlates to malnutrition in Saudi Arabia.

Malnutrition in Saudi Arabia stems directly from families living in poverty who lack the resources to eat meals that supplement a healthy, balanced diet.

Saudi Arabia provides free healthcare and education resources to families who cannot afford it but Saudi Arabia neglects assisting families in poverty with food and meals. It is common for poverty ridden families to rely on citizens to give them free food handouts.

Malnutrition is not only affecting Saudi Arabia but also nations across the entire globe. According to Action Against Hunger, malnutrition is the cause of 50 percent of all child deaths.

While Saudi Arabia is working to boost citizen health and nutrition, the U.S. is implementing programs to help cut hunger in poverty struck nations.

In 2009, President Barack Obama developed the Feed the Future initiative which is a global food nutrition program working to reduce hunger and poverty. Feed the Future is currently running in 19 countries; unfortunately, Saudi Arabia is not one of those countries.

Although programs like Feed the Future are engaging the U.S. in helping reduce hunger and malnutrition in 19 countries, nations like Saudi Arabia are being neglected. With the implementation of more food nutrition programs, the U.S. could strive to make a global impact in increasing health and nutrition.

– Danielle Koontz

Sources: MSU, WHO, Time, Feed the Future, Action Against Hunger
Photo: Sat7UK