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Why Somalia has a High Malnutrition Rate

Over the past years, famine and food insecurity have threatened the lives of thousands of people in Somalia. These threats were, and are, some of the worst in decades. The famine in 2011 was the first famine in the Horn of Africa in over 30 years—it killed 250,000 people. Currently, about 1 million people in Somalia are food insecure and are in desperate need of assistance. There are around 236,000 children under 5 who are malnourished.

What makes Somalia so prone to these famines and to having high malnutrition rates?

For 20 years, Somalia has been in conflict. Civil war destroyed the nation. It affects how much food can be grown and destroys crops. People have to flee and cannot tend to their crops and livestock.

The conflict left the country in a state of political turmoil. So, when the drought hit in 2011, Somalia was unable to deal with the disaster. People did not receive aid from the government and foreign aid had difficulty reaching its people.

Droughts, as well as floods, continue to plague Somalia. Having crops destroyed every so many years makes it difficult to make progress in decreasing the malnutrition rate. Additionally, with a still unstable government, aid was not there. In 2014, the country once again had a threat of another famine, with up to 3 million people in need of aid.

Also contributing to the cause of high malnutrition rates is the lack of development in the younger generations. Only 42 percent of children are enrolled in school, with less than half of them being girls. Young people make up 42 percent of the population, with 67 percent of them unemployed because of a lack of education.

Without an education, these youths cannot get jobs to earn a steady income, one that would be enough to provide food for their children. The children are raised in poverty, with little food. Unlikely to escape poverty, the next generation will most likely fall in the same category. It is a difficult cycle to break, one that can contribute to the high malnutrition rates in Somalia.

Despite the hardship in Somalia, the World Food Program continues to work in Somalia to lower malnutrition rates. They provide job vocational trainings so that youths can get a job. They hand out food rations to attract parents to send their children, especially daughters to school. The WFP continues to provide nutritional and health aid in Somalia.

– Katherine Hewitt

Sources: Action Against Hunger, BBC, Huffington Post, WFP, UNICEF
Photo: Global Giving

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Malnutrition in Samoa

Malnutrition in Samoa
Malnutrition has widespread impacts and widespread consequences. As a worldwide problem, malnutrition impacts one in five children. Within Samoa, the problem is a growing health concern, particularly for children.

Malnutrition in Samoa occurs in a variety of forms. In Samoa, the most common form of malnutrition is Protein-Energy Malnutrition or P.E.M. Because P.E.M. is caused by inadequate protein intake, it has its greatest impact on children, due to the low intake of protein in their diet. In 2013, Samoa also saw 72 hospital admissions for acute, severe malnutrition. Two children died of these cases.

As it does in the rest of the world, malnutrition leads to many health problems in Samoa. In 2014, four children died and 19 were hospitalized as a result of diarrhea outbreaks. A ministry of health report connected poor dietary practices, and the use of Devondale milk as a substitute for both adequate baby formula and poor nutritional practices, to pediatric ward visits during the outbreak.

A lack of proper breastfeeding is a major contributing factor to malnutrition. A study in the city of Apia found that 17 percent of bottle-fed infants were malnourished, compared to only five percent of breastfed infants. Perhaps this is why a ministry of health report, in response to the diarrhea outbreak, listed advocating for proper breastfeeding as a “priority area of concern,” and listed giving pregnant mothers food supplements such as folic acid and iron tablets as an “area for vigilance.”

Diarrhea caused by malnutrition is also difficult for health professionals in that diarrhea leads malnourished patients to become further malnourished.

The impact of malnutrition on Samoa, and particularly on the children of Samoa, is shocking. The reality of facing the situation is challenging, as the issue also connects with dietary changes in the region that have occurred over the past few decades, along with urbanization. That being said, supporting education on these issues for all along with supplemental nutrition problems will be highly important in preparing for the challenges of the present, while building a better future.

 – Andrew Michaels

Sources: Samoa Observer, Radio New Zealand International, Radio New Zealand International, UN University, Samoa News
Photo:Flickr

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Malnutrition in Burundi

Malnutrition in BurundiPopulated with over 10 million people, Burundi is a densely packed, landlocked East African country with the worst rates of malnutrition in the world.

Burundi was rated the world’s leading nation affected by hunger, according to the 2014 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a score calculated annually by the International Food Policy Research Institute. Plagued with political turmoil and prone to natural disasters, Burundi has seen rates of malnutrition increase in recent years. Despite global strides in combating malnutrition in recent history, Burundi is one of only four nations that has seen an increase in GHI from 1990 to 2014, indicating a worsening situation in the country. With 67.3 percent of the overall population undernourished, it is one of two countries with a hunger situation labeled “extremely alarming” in the study.

As the vast majority of Burundi’s population relies on agriculture, many of the country’s inhabitants combat food insecurity and malnutrition due to climate hazards, limited land access and limited crop diversity. Despite a constantly growing population, food production has stagnated at pre-1993 levels, according to the World Food Programme. Additionally, due to the rising costs of food — the price of beans increased by nearly 50 percent in recent years — the average household now spends over 70 percent of its income on food. While the nation’s government has programs in place to assist in the fight against malnutrition, it is growing increasingly costly for the country to deal with the worsening problem.

Common causes of malnutrition in the country include kwashiorkor and marasmus, both of which can stunt development and can be life-threatening if not treated. Although women and young children are most at risk for diseases caused by malnutrition, many men are also affected.

Additionally, many children and women suffer from a lack of micronutrients in their diets. In the first two years of life, it is especially crucial for children to get sufficient amounts of micronutrients such as iron, Vitamin A, iodine and zinc. Such nutrients are critical for physical growth and intellectual development.

Anemia is one of the biggest deficiency problems currently faced in Burundi, with 56 percent of children under the age of 5, and 47 percent of pregnant women anemic, according to the World Bank. Additionally, nearly half of the population as a whole is at risk for insufficient zinc intake, and a quarter of the country’s children under 5 and 12 percent of women are Vitamin A deficient. Although the effects of these deficiencies are less dire in the short term, they contribute to life-threatening illnesses and issues.

In order to address the problems of malnutrition in Burundi, the World Bank recommends extensive vitamin A supplementation and deworming in children under 5-years-old and increased iron supplementation for pregnant women. While about 96 percent of households are already consuming iodized salt, the World Bank recommends “universal salt iodization” in order to control iodine deficiency and avoid IQ loss in young children. Working to increase market and infrastructure development to promote dietary diversity can also combat issues with malnourishment.

Education and counseling services can also serve to improve feeding habits for children under five years old. While Burundi sees a lack of gender equality in most sects of life, women are still seen to have a strong maternal role in the family. UNICEF found that children of mothers with at least a primary level of education have 94 percent of fewer risks of growth stunting from malnutrition than children of mothers with no education. The study showed that mothers with some level of education had been proactive in managing malnutrition than other mothers, recognizing the importance of good breastfeeding habits, clean living and staggering pregnancies.

Since 2005, the Ministry of Health has emphasized building community-based infrastructure to screen for and treat acute malnutrition. Many organizations are also working with the Burundi government to increase education programs for mothers in order to deal with the country’s chronic malnutrition. In 2012, Burundi signed on to the Scaling up Nutrition initiative, which works with the United Nations, civil society, donors, businesses and researchers to work with communities on this issue. The initiative involves an interdisciplinary approach to combating malnutrition. Burundi’s approach, as established through the initiative, involves working to protect maternity leave, create legislation on the marketing of breast milk substitute, establish national directives on food, diversify and increase its food production, and increase nutrition education. The established goal in 2012 was to reduce malnutrition rates by 10 percent by 2016. No information has been released by Scaling up Nutrition or by the Burundian government on the progress of this goal.

– Arin Kerstein

Sources: International Food Policy Research Institute, International Food Policy Research Institute, Iwacu-Burundi, Scaling Up Nutrition, World Bank, Wolrd Food Programme, UNICEF
Photo: The Guardian

Malnutrition in Taiwan

Malnutrition-in-Taiwan
Since the end of the Second World War, the face of malnutrition in Taiwan has changed dramatically. Once among the ranks of third world nations, Taiwan has enjoyed meteoric economic growth over the past seventy years. This growth has raised living standards, reduced poverty and eliminated undernutrition as a development issue. But despite this newfound prosperity, Taiwan continues to face malnutrition in the form of obesity and poor diets.

Between 1895 and 1945, Japan ruled over Taiwan as an imperial master. Over these five decades, Japan structured the island as a satellite granary. Taiwan’s principal crops became sugar and rice, and by the 1930s, Taiwan exported more than half of its agricultural output to the Japanese home islands. In fact, according to researcher Samuel Ho, the amount of rice available for consumption in Taiwan had fallen 24 percent by the 1940s. Although Japanese administrators modernized Taiwanese agriculture and invested in transportation infrastructure, they did little to improve the lot of the poorest Taiwanese: real wages remained low and malnutrition prevalent.

Soon after the end of Japanese rule, Taiwan found itself in a position to tackle malnutrition. No longer Japan’s offshore breadbasket, Taiwanese farmers saw export markets for their crops collapse. They thus began putting significantly less of their rice crop on the market and retaining more for home consumption. In addition, the Taiwanese government implemented land reforms that broke up large agricultural estates and turned tenant farmers into landowners. Combined with other “pro-farmer” policies and a growing industrial export sector, Taiwan had effectively eliminated malnutrition by the early 1970s.

But with the development of an advanced economy in Taiwan, malnutrition has resurfaced as a public health concern. According to University of Washington sources, dietary risks are the second-greatest contributor to Taiwan’s disease burden. Whereas most Taiwanese were once unable to afford a varied, nutritious diet, many now eschew healthy eating electively. To add to this concern, contemporary Taiwanese suffer from increasing rates of obesity: 31 percent of females and 41 percent of males were overweight in 2013, and obesity in people under 20 has increased by more than 50 percent since 1980. This “double burden” of malnutrition — undernutrition paired with obesity — among Taiwan’s youth may foretell the resurgence of malnutrition in Taiwan as a public health issue.

Recent research also suggests that cultural norms may perpetuate patterns of malnutrition in Taiwan. Researchers Lin and Tsai find that girls born to “marital immigrant” parents (in which one spouse — usually the wife — hails from abroad, typically Southeast Asia in the case of Taiwan) are significantly shorter and lighter than Han Chinese girls. Lin and Tsai note that Taiwanese men who marry immigrant women are disproportionately disadvantaged economically and physically. These men face immense pressure to preserve the family line, leading them to spoil their sons at the expense of their daughters. Given such ongoing changes in Taiwanese society, malnutrition in Taiwan may prove more intractable than previously thought.

– Leo Zucker

Sources: Malnutrition in Taiwan, Nutrilite Economic History Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Nutritional Research
Photo: World Vision International

Life in the World’s Poorest Country

poorest_country
Imagine being lulled to sleep by the constant sound of bullets ricocheting off trees in the forests beyond your home. For many living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), this horror story is reality. Located in the heart of Africa, the DRC has been named the world’s poorest country, but its massive amount of available resources has it set up to eventually become one of the wealthiest.

The major issue that stands between this nation and a successful future is the rampant instability of government and daily life. Existing in a much more antiquated state than that of our own, 83 percent of all Congolese citizens live in rural villages and lack access to clean water and steady supplies of food. This means that around 125 out of every 1,000 babies die within three weeks of birth due to malnutrition. This instability has allowed the region to become a breeding ground for war. Roughly 5.4 million people have been killed during the war in the Congo, a death rate second only to that of the Second World War, leaving millions of orphans as a result of death by fighting and the spread of the AIDS virus. Of these millions of children, many are left starving with no certain way of getting access to food every day, leaving malnutrition as another leading cause of death in the region. The only sense of stability these children have known is the constant of war. Many are drawn to large militant groups because they provide a family-like structure and are a constant source of food and power. However, as the world’s leading powers have begun to catch wind of the atrocities being carried out in the Congo, it looks like all of this is about to change.

The heart of the Congo is home to the equatorial rainforest, making it rich in many natural resources of which companies pay millions of dollars per year to extract. The main issue that has risen during this process stems from companies attempting to take these resources free of charge, giving rise to more civil wars in the area. However, as more NGO’s begin to put boots on the ground in an attempt to bring this to a halt, many rural communities are starting to see a future in which they can succeed. The key to changing a life is giving someone a way to change their own. By teaching local citizens how to harvest resources and develop businesses to sell said resources, many communities have begun to rise from the ashes of war. Many organizations are practicing micro-lending in an attempt to create business and a sense of worth within communities. The Congo has the possibility to become a great nation where people are happy and well-fed, the government is stable and life is like a tropical vacation in a rainforest.

Although there is a long road ahead, every reaction has a catalyst and by bringing communities up one by one, we can create a difference beyond our best hopes.

– Sumita Tellakat

Sources: African Volunteer, The Atlantic, Our Africa
Photo: Flickr

Geographic Challenges Lead to Malnutrition in Tuvalu

tuvalu
In the last leg of their Diamond Jubilee Tour of 2012, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge [Kate Middleton and William Young] made a stop at the island of Tuvalu, joining them in their tribal dances among other activities. Tuvalu is located in the southwestern part of the Pacific Ocean near Australia, is the second smallest country in the world at only ten square miles in area, and is a country rarely discussed in the media.

Taiwanese eco-artist Vincent Huang will soon be unveiling the very first “floating pavilion” there, a pool crossed by walkways. The symbolism behind this pavilion, based on the rising sea levels and ever-changing climate, offers insight to one of the many geographical challenges that the country has faced, which has led to economic instability. According to Huang: “Tuvalu is the smallest national pavilion but we’re dealing with the biggest global crisis. I believe that most people have never heard about Tuvalu but it’s an iconic victim in terms of climate crisis.”

However, the climate crisis in itself is only part of the problem. Tuvalunans rely heavily on foreign aid in the form of imported food products because of a lack of a fresh water supply and poor soil quality. They find themselves less and less able to purchase the food due to rising prices, falling remittances and loss of jobs. In sum: climate change with rising sea levels, little access to fresh water, soil lacking in nutrients, pollution, and climate change along with an inability to afford the necessary imported food has led to malnutrition.

According to UNICEF Pacific Social Policy Specifist Reiko Yoshihara-Miskelly: “malnutrition, in earlier age, it has a long-lasting effect, given that brain development in early childhood could be crucial for children’s later performance in schools and life.” In fact, 1.6 percent of children under five years old suffer from malnutrition in a nation of only about eleven thousand total in population.

However, UNICEF is working to alleviate this problem not just in Tuvalu, but worldwide through a project entitled The Power of Nutrition. Released on the sixteenth of April, the goal of this project is to access $1 billion through partnerships with philanthropic associations through a trust fund with the World Bank Group for the purpose of child nutrition. Learn more at powerofnutrition.org.

– Anna Brailow

Sources: BBC, Daily Mail, Knoema, The Power of Nutrition, Radio Australia, UNICEF
Photo: Mirror

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Malnutrition in Guinea

guinea
The small west-African nation of Guinea has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world – just 39 for men and 42 for women. Political instability, ethnic violence and natural disasters all contribute to about 28 percent of the Guinean population’s status as food insecure, according to a 2012 study by the World Food Programme (WFP).

One of the nations affected by the deadly Ebola crisis of late last year, the Center for Disease Control reports that nearly 2,500 Guineans died as a result of the disease.

However, there is a quieter killer claiming countless more lives than were lost in the Ebola epidemic: malnutrition. A supremely young nation wherein 2 of 5 residents are below the age of 15, an estimated 212,569 Guinean children died last year as a result of malnutrition, the WFP found.

UNICEF found that 16 percent of children under the age of 5 were malnourished in 2012, the same year a cholera outbreak seized the Guinean community, infecting 2,000 and killing an estimated 82.

Malnutrition and disease are closely linked, with the U.N.’s Standing Committee on Nutrition asserting malnutrition to be the largest contributor to disease and disability worldwide.

Both HIV and tuberculosis continue to be the leading public health concerns in the region, and given their interconnectivity with malnutrition, especially in the case that the mother is infected and risks transmitting the disease to their children, the U.N. targets this population specifically through specialized parameters included in their Guinea nutrition programme.

The WHO believes malnutrition to be responsible for one-third of of all child deaths, however, it is rarely listed as a cause of death in itself. Inadequate nutrition can weaken the immune system to the point where it’s unable to fight of disease. Consequently, malnutrition plays a role in countless preventable deaths across the globe.

This is why the WFP in 2014 provided 2,400 people with AIDS and TB treatment, while also establishing 141 nutrition centers across country, where Guineans can receive specialized fortified foods called Supercereals, with sugar and enriched vegetable oil.

– Amanda Burke

Sources: WFP 1, CDC, WFP 2, Action Against Hunger, Reliefweb
Photo: Flickr

Malnutrition in Saudi Arabia

Saudi_Arabia
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

Malnutrition in Senegal

malnutrition_in_senegal
Senegal is no stranger to malnutrition. Each year, the country sees cases of malnutrition spike in the summer months. Coupled with volatile harvests, climatic events and political instability, malnutrition will remain an enduring challenge for Senegal in the coming years. Despite these concerns, the Senegalese government has recently shown a strong commitment to alleviate malnutrition through close cooperation with humanitarian organizations.

Malnutrition in Senegal centers on what many call the “lean season.” This grimly-named period usually lasts from June through September, when food stocks from the previous year’s harvest approach depletion. In rural areas, where residents depend on the annual harvest for both income and sustenance, the lean season requires locals to reduce the quantity and the quality of their meals. The lean season thus delivers a double whammy, adding the specter of a malnutrition crisis to food security concerns.

In recent years, poor harvests have brought malnutrition in Senegal to crisis levels. Low harvest yields in 2011 led to the declaration of a malnutrition emergency in April of 2012. In the regions of Diourbel and Matam, identified the previous year as priority regions, national nutritional surveys had predicted under 5,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition, or SAM, during the 2012 lean season. These regions saw more than 13,000 cases of SAM. To make matters worse, Diourbel and other western regions were struck by floods in August and September of that year, destroying health facilities and affecting more than 300,000 people. The nutritional situation in rural Senegal, particularly in Diourbel, remained precarious the next year, with United Nations Regional Humanitarian Coordinator Robert Piper paying the region a special visit.

Harvest yields in 2014 were once again inadequate—down 16 percent from the previous year’s harvest and 20 percent below the five-year average, according to the World Food Programme. In regions suffering from insufficient rainfall, 2014 and 2015 harvest yields fell by up to 80 percent, according to USAID. If summer 2015 rains fall short, malnutrition in Senegal may reach crisis levels in the coming months.

Despite this concerning outlook, recent developments give cause for optimism. Before the declaration of a malnutrition emergency in 2012, the Senegalese government had made fighting malnutrition a key priority. During the 2012 crisis, the government collaborated closely with UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and numerous NGOs to plan its response. Additionally, humanitarian organizations have pioneered innovative tactics to assist families at risk of malnutrition. The World Food Programme, for instance, began transferring money to vulnerable families in southern Senegal via text message during the 2014 lean season.

Though these steps are encouraging, malnutrition in Senegal remains a chronic issue. The lean season is still a defining feature of rural Senegalese life, and weak seasonal rainfall all but guarantees a malnutrition crisis. Political instability also poses difficulties. A history of separatist activity in the Ziguinchor region (struck by the 2012 floods) has left locals particularly susceptible to malnutrition emergencies.

Perhaps most critically, humanitarian initiatives that tackle malnutrition in Senegal are regularly underfunded. UNICEF’s response to the 2012 malnutrition crisis received only two-thirds of its desired funding, while food security and nutrition initiatives in 2013 met only 36 percent of their funding goals, according to U.N. sources. In spite of recent strides, malnutrition will likely continue to affect Senegal for years to come.

– Leo Zucker

Sources: Scaling Up Nutrition, UNICEF, IAEA, Relief Web 1, European Commission, WFP 1, WFP 2, Relief Web 2, Wikipedia
Photo: Thomson Reuters Foundation

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Malnutrition in Bhutan

bhutan
Since the 1990s, there has been great progress in Bhutan’s small, agricultural based economy. With this economic progress, the citizens of Bhutan have seen a decline in poverty, a decentralized government and better access to health care.

In 2007, poverty in Bhutan was well over 40 percent. As of 2014, Bhutan’s National Statistics Bureau reports that poverty is at 12 percent nationally. Dietary diversity has improved greatly since 2007 among poor and non-poor, with households consuming higher amounts of nuts, fruits, oils and fats and sweeteners like sugar and honey.

Still, as more and more of Bhutan’s small population of 761,019 mobilizes out of extreme instances of poverty, there are indications that proper nutrition is a problem for many, especially children. It is estimated that 34 percent of children in Bhutan are stunted as a result of malnutrition and 11 percent show signs of wasting. While malnutrition and stunting is found to be slightly higher in rural regions of western and eastern Bhutan, national statistics from Bhutan show that at least 15 percent of children under five are undernourished.

There are a number of reasons as to why malnutrition and the stunting of children is prevalent in Bhutan. One significant factor is the health and nutrition of mothers who are pregnant or nursing. According to UNICEF, poor practices of infant feeding and a 50 percent rate of anemia among young mothers contributes to the vicious cycle of malnutrition among young children in Bhutan. As a result, one of every 10 mothers gives birth to a low-weight baby. The Bhutan Poverty Assessment said, “the under nutrition problem is prevalent in the eastern part of the country and among children of mothers with no education.”

There is an overall lack of use of antenatal and prenatal care amongst mothers in Bhutan. Few women in rural areas have their births attended by skilled professionals, even though Bhutan offers a system of universal health care to its citizens.

Others point to Bhutan’s reliance on foreign imports of food as being the main cause. This reliance causes the population to depend on foreign sources of food, which sometimes leads to a degree of neglect in subsistence farming and agriculture. Also, imports of certain Western foods, high in sugar content and offering little nutritional value, have led to a disparity in adequate nutrition in Bhutan.

The Kingdom of Bhutan is on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals; however, malnutrition remains the main impediment to Bhutan’s development. Though Bhutan fares far better than other nations in Southern Asia, it has recognized that in order to improve the overall well-being of the nation, something must be done to improve the health and nutrition of its young mothers and children.

– Candice Hughes

Sources: Bio Med Central, Global Nutrition Report, National Statistics Bureau, Unicef, World Bank
Photo: Asia News