Tag Archive for: Malnutrition

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Hunger in Guinea-Bissau

guinea-bissau
Hunger and malnutrition are significant concerns in the country of Guinea-Bissau that can be attributed to several factors including food insecurity, poor health and sanitation, limited access to water and low literacy rates.

According to a report released by the World Food Programme, only seven percent of people living in Guinea-Bissau are food secure. The report also revealed that 93 percent of the rural population in the country is food insecure as a result of cashew prices. In addition, an estimated 15,000 children suffer from malnutrition across Guinea-Bissau.

Due to Guinea-Bissau’s political instability and socioeconomic uncertainty, the country’s food security remains compromised. Poverty rates have increased from 65 percent in previous years to 75 percent and although the country has ample natural resources, a substantial amount of rainfall and good soil, Guinea-Bissau is still dealing with the political disruption that makes it susceptible to poverty.

A large aspect of the country’s economy can be found in the agricultural sector, which 85 percent of the population relies upon. The population of 1.6 million not only relies on agriculture as a main source of income but also as a main source of nutrition. Cashews account for 98 percent of the country’s revenues, while other crops such as rice are grown for sustenance.

In the past several years alone, food insecurity in Guinea-Bissau has increased as a result of strikes and political upheaval, both have devastated the cashew nut season and compromised the country’s main source of income. This disruption not only affected revenues, but it also limited access to food and further burdened households in rural areas.

In past years Guinea-Bissau had not been making a political commitment to combating hunger in the country; however, recently the country along with several other organizations including WFP have partnered up in an effort to reduce hunger.

“Thanks to the work we do with our partners on emergency preparedness, support to family farmers, nutritional assistance – particularly in a child’s first 1,000 days – and building the resilience of communities to withstand shocks, millions of people are now better able to focus on building a future free of hunger for themselves and the next generation,” said WFP Executive Ertharin Cousin.

WFP and the government of Guinea-Bissau have launched several initiatives in hopes of alleviating hunger and combating malnutrition in the country. The initiatives aim to provide immediate food aid, operate school meal programs and aid small-scale farmers. WFP is currently providing meals to 86,000 schoolchildren and handing out rations as a means to increase attendance among girls. As part of the initiative, an estimated 36,000 women and children have received resources to combat malnutrition.

“Every year, we witness hunger’s devastating effect on families, communities and whole economies,” Cousin says. “But despite horrific crises engulfing entire regions, we are making real progress in the fight to sustainably and durably end hunger and chronic malnutrition.”

– Nada Sewidan

Sources: World Food Programme, International Food Policy Research Institute
Photo: DNS Tvind

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Malnutrition in Djibouti

Malnutrition in Djibouti
Throughout its long history, Djibouti has served as an important part of international exchange. Located in the center of the Horn of Africa, Djibouti has been a principal port of trade, exchange and shipping for nations like Saudi Arabia, France and China.

Yet, in spite of its historical significance, Djibouti’s small population of 886,000 people, most of whom are urban residents, cannot afford food or proper dietary provisions. This number includes children, approximately 109,000 under the age of five, who are at risk of stunted growth, improper mental development and death due to malnourishment. It is estimated that 29.8 percent of children under the age of five in Djibouti are underweight.

In recent years, severe drought has caused the traditionally pastoral society of Djibouti to lose up to 70 percent of its livestock. With less than .10 percent of Djibouti’s land considered arable, it is difficult to maintain sustainable agriculture or for families to feed themselves. Due to a combination of high communicable disease infection, low crop production and extreme poverty, child mortality rates are increasingly high, with 81 of every 1,000 live births resulting in death. Though child mortality has declined considerably in the last 24 years, children continue to suffer greatly in the region.

Djibouti has one of the world’s highest rates of chronic child malnourishment. The latest statistics provided by WHO show that 18 percent of children suffer from malnutrition and 5.6 percent face severe acute malnutrition. Djibouti currently ranks at 165 of 187 countries in the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index, indicating poor development and improper nutrition throughout the average Djiboutian’s lifetime.

In an effort to combat malnutrition and child mortality rates in Djibouti, a number of international organizations have developed programs and assistance intended for the ‘under-five population’ and mothers. In June of 2014, the World Bank announced a $5 million dollar credit to the Social Safety Net Program, which provides food assistance and cash-for-work incentives to mothers with young children. It emphasizes the ‘first 1000 days’ of a child’s life as being critical to developing proper nutrition and health.

In 2011, UNICEF installed a therapeutic feeding center in the Balbala community in Djibouti, offering treatment and nutritional supplements to malnourished children. The feeding center also offers resources to mothers in order to prevent future cases of malnutrition. The World Food Programme has also been a leading contributor to food and health assistance in Djibouti. Its assistance in Djibouti has helped over 90,000 people in Djibouti, especially children.

The WFP said, “WFP also helps fight against malnutrition by providing fortified food to children under five, as well as to pregnant and nursing mothers at health centers in both urban and rural parts of the country.”

Additionally, The World Bank, WFP, UNICEF and other organizations have helped Djibouti become self-sufficient by aiding in efforts focused on education, environmental sustainability and useful crop production. These efforts have contributed to the ongoing decline of malnutrition throughout Djibouti.

– Candice Hughes

Sources: The World Bank, UNICEF 1, UNICEF 2, WHO 1, WHO 2, World Food Programme
Photo: Flickr

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Malnutrition in Myanmar

malnutrition in myanmar
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has an estimated population of 53 million people. Of this population, 2.5 million children in Myanmar suffer from stunted growth as a result of being malnourished over an extended period of time. Malnourished children often experience long term debilitating mental and psychical effects. These effects also impact the community and health resources available.

Currently, the rate of malnutrition in Myanmar is staggeringly high. The western area of the country, where 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims live, has unprecedented levels. More than 140,000 people are subjected to living in filthy, overcrowded camps. Others face restricted movement from villages and a lack of access to basic needs, such as clean water, food, education and healthcare. Political issues and ethnically motivated crimes have caused over 200,000 people to flee to neighboring areas such as Bangladesh to save their lives.

Human Rights Watch reports have indicated that ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity have occurred in Myanmar as a result of the atrocities faced by the Rohingya people. However, this minority is not recognized by the government, and the term Rohingya is prohibited from being used by the government in Myanmar.

In accordance with Millennium Development Goal One, to end hunger and extreme poverty, Myanmar has attempted to make progress. As of 2013, it has been collaborating with UNICEF in order to help combat child malnutrition. Myanmar has joined other countries in the global ‘scaling up nutrition’ movement.

The United States and other countries need to work with the government of Myanmar to help it create reform programs that provide equality to all its people, including equal rights protection and access to food, clean water and sanitation. Progress has been made, but the potential for more is great.

– Erika Wright

Sources: The Parliament Magazine, UNICEF
Photo: Flickr

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Malnutrition in Botswana

malnutrition in botswana
Ranked 52nd from last (out of 182) on the Human Development Index, Botswana lacks a lot of basic needs to support its citizens. Malnutrition in Botswana is taking a bigger toll on the country then most would guess. Affecting things such as wages, health care systems, and cognitive development, malnutrition needs to addresses and reduced drastically.

The cost of health care that is needed to help those affected by malnutrition in Botswana increases the burden that malnutrition has on the economy. Also, children who are malnourished between conception and age two are at high risk for impaired cognitive development. In the future, problems like these can lead to adverse effects in the country’s productivity and growth since many will not have the cognitive capability to carry out tasks that require advanced ability which would most likely benefit the country greatly.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are some of the main indicators of malnutrition in Botswana. Vitamin A is an important vitamin that some are missing. It is reported that 29 percent of preschool aged children and 19% of pregnant women have a Vitamin A deficiency. Thirty-eight percent of preschool aged children and 21 percent of pregnant women have an Iron deficiency. Also, nearly one third of all households do not consume iodized salt, which leads to other disorders.

Vitamin deficiency is where UNICEF Botswana comes in to aid. In the past couple of years, UNICEF Botswana has offered a successful Vitamin A Supplementation program for children six-59 months old. UNICEF believes that the way forward is to sustain the child survival achievements.

With the economy heavily reliant on future generations, Botswana has a situation that needs to be dealt with in order to secure prominence not only in the present, but also in the future, when these now malnourished children will live. If Botswana and UNICEF can effectively aid those who are malnourished, the country will start to see improvements in all sectors due to the increased overall productivity of abled bodies.

– Erik Nelson

Sources: UNICEF, World Bank
Photo: WordPress

Malnutrition in Mozambique

Malnutrition_Mozambique
In Mozambique, almost one in two children under the age of five is nutritionally deficient. Poor nutrition contributes to high rates of childhood mortality. Those who are nutritionally deficient are more susceptible to diseases, which further complicates the situation.

Looking at the macro and micro levels of nutrient deficiency, one can see how malnutrition in Mozambique is affecting the country. At the macro level, 44 percent of all children under the age of five are stunted due to chronic illness and poor diet with 18 percent of all children categorized as underweight. Wasting, or acute malnutrition, affects four percent of the adolescent population and is a major concern for Mozambique.

On the micro level, Iron, Iodine and Vitamin A deficiencies are among the main perpetrators. Iron deficiency affects 75 percent of the children who grow anemic and are apathetic, anorexic and energy-less. Iodine deficiency has mental and physical repercussions. Goiter is a condition that is caused by iodine deficiency and affects 15 percent of children between the ages of six and 12 in Mozambique. Iodized salt usage has increased in recent years, however, to combat this trend.

Vitamin A deficiency weakens the body’s immunity against infections. This is a serious side effect and affects the majority of children in Mozambique, at a rate of 69 percent of children. It also affects 11 percent of mothers, who find it hard to breastfeed their children because they are also undernourished.

“It is not just about food,” says Maaike Arts, a nutrition expert at the UNICEF organization in Mozambique. “It is about health, hygiene and sanitation. Diarrhea and worms affect the child’s uptake of nutrients; malaria reduces the levels of iron in the blood. In Mozambique, many women marry and get pregnant as teenagers. There is a significant correlation between mother’s age and the nutritional status of the children.”

UNICEF has been forging their way through the thick of Mozambican hunger with a three-focus attack. UNICEF is scaling up the support of the Basic Nutrition Package in health facilities, implementing community-based nutrition interventions and feeding malnourished children. The WHO is also joining the fight with a plan that has seven individual strategies.

UNICEF’s Basic Nutrition Package aims to prevent children from becoming malnourished in the first place by providing “health units” to the provinces in Mozambique. Activities include the community coming together and learning about good nutrition practices and how to correctly feed the young. These activities focus on the empowerment of mothers, families and communities.

The WHO has created an in-depth plan that includes the following focus areas:

· Activities with impact on teenagers’ nutrition status strengthened
· Interventions with impact on productive, lactating and pregnant women’s health and nutrition strengthened
· Child-oriented nutrition activities in the first two years of birth strengthened
· Household-oriented activities to improve high nutrition food access and utilization strengthened
· Human Resources capacity in nutrition strengthened
· Strengthen national capacity for advocacy, coordination, management and progressive implementation of the Multi-Sectorial Action Plan for Chronic Malnutrition Reduction
· Food and nutrition control system strengthened

Strengthen is the key work in the WHO’s plan. They want Mozambique to gain the capability to provide for itself. The ultimate goal is to reduce chronic malnutrition to 20 perccent by 2020.

With the help of UNICEF and WHO providing the basic needs of nourishment and sustainability, malnutrition in Mozambique can begin to see its downfall. These organizations have studied the land and the people and have determined what is needed in order for this country to get up and running on its own.

– Erik Nelson

Sources: IRIN, UNICEF, WHO
Photo: Lists10

Buying Food, a Struggle in the Solomon Islands

Buying_Food_a_Struggle_in_the_Solomon_Islands
A child’s diet for the first 1,000 days of their life is crucial to developing both mentally and physically. Unfortunately, one-third of children under the age of five in the Solomon Islands are considered stunted—too small for their age due to malnutrition. Children who are stunted are often more susceptible to infections and diseases.

The Solomon Islands are not short on food resources.  There is a plethora of fish and sea food available; however, it is common for families to not have the funds required to purchase fresh fish or even canned tuna. Of the citizens who live in rural areas, 60 percent rely on food that they grow themselves. The Solomon Islands have ideal conditions for agriculture; however, those living in urban areas do not have access to land and are forced to purchase overpriced food that they simply cannot afford.

According to the Solomon Islands National Statistical Office, many people suffer from “hidden hunger,” meaning while things might not look physically dire, they are actually desperately lacking the proper nutrition to live long, healthy lives.

Solomon Island communities try to look out for each other and share food. Not only do the citizens highly value their family and friends, they also have their own “wantok”—their neighbors and extended family—who they share cheap food with. The cheapest foods can be bought in bulk like rice and noodles, but it can be very dangerous to live off these foods alone. The people of the Solomon Islands experience high rates of anemia and diarrhea from their lack of proper nutrition.

Also contributing to the lack of proper nutrients is overpopulation; the population of the Solomon Islands grows by 2.8 percent each year. More and more people are in need of food, with less and less of it being available due to the small income the islanders receive. Addressing this problem will involve taking a hard look at the economy and finding a way for citizens to receive an adequate income capable of consistently sustaining them.

– Melissa Binns

Sources: CGIRA, SPREP
Photo: Flickr

​Chad: Highest Rates of Malnutrition in West Africa

Those who suffer from undernourishment are more vulnerable to infections and diseases like malaria. Due to the country Chad’s lack of health care, frequent droughts and lack of access to safe drinking water, 790,000 citizens need emergency food assistance, while three million are in need of humanitarian assistance in general. The country is believed to have the highest rate of malnutrition in West Africa compared to its other impoverished countries.

According to a SMART nutrition survey, the child malnutrition rates in 2014 were between 6.8 and 13.3 percent. Those living in the Sahelian area of Chad experienced the worst: five regions in that area exceeded a 10 percent rate, and six regions exceeded a 15 percent rate of malnutrition. Fifteen percent is considered the minimal rate needed to declare a hunger emergency. It should be noted that contributing to these malnutrition rates are refugees from the Central African Republic and Sudan. There are up to 450,000 who have pursued safety in Chad, and while there has been no official survey conducted yet, up to 14 percent of child refugees at just a few refugee sites have been screened as “acutely malnourished.”

Chad’s traditional health services are underwhelming, with less than one qualified person who can provide medical aid for every 1,000 people. The government allocates a mere three percent of its budget toward health initiatives. This has prompted outside help to intervene in this dire situation.

While there are a few programs to provide medical aid to those suffering in hunger, the problem will not be solved until the core issue of poverty is looked at. According to Richard Currie of Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF, five percent of children die in their care—and those are the ones receiving treatment.

“It is tremendously rewarding to discharge a previously critically ill child from our program as ‘cured,’ but in the absence of adequate nutrition in the home and an improved food security situation in the community, the child remains at risk of falling back into illness later and eventually re-entering the program,” Currie explained.

Other organizations lending a hand are UNICEF and the U.N. World Food Programme, which are trying to distribute food and introduce programs that will help citizens before emergency medical treatment is required. WFP claims to have targeted 1.3 million citizens in 2014. Nourishment rates in 2014 showed improvement compared to previous years, and hopefully the intervention of all these organizations will improve the rates even more for 2015.

– Melissa Binns

Sources: Irin News, World Food Programme
Photo: UNICEF

Five Factors Contributing to Hunger in Samoa

hunger_in_samoaLocated in the South Pacific Ocean, Samoa is not a particularly well-known country. Split between two islands called Savai’i and ­Upolu, it spans a grand total of 1,097 square miles. Made famous by Robert Louis Stevenson, who spent his last years in a house on the latter island, its people have been the subjects of many genetic, linguistic and anthropological studies. Apart from studies though, the developed world seems to have left Samoa behind. Below are five factors contributing to hunger in Samoa.

1. Food Dependence

The people of Samoa depend upon foods that they receive from other countries. Additionally, access to these foods is unequal, so the Samoans who do have access to the imported foods tend to eat all of it. For lack of complete meals, a large percentage of the population becomes obese.

2. Nutritional Imbalance

In Samoa, the top five food group shares in its total food supply, as of 2011, are as follows:
Cereals – 18.5 percent
Roots – 10.2 percent
Meat – 16.3 percent
Vegetable oils and animal fats – 9 percent
Sugars and honey – 8.6 percent
What’s missing? Vegetables and fruits. The people of Samoa become obese in large part because healthy foods are not made available to them in large enough amounts to provide an adequate diet to the overwhelming majority.

3. Inadequate Reporting

In April 2013, Samoa Observer released an article titled, “Samoa praised for ‘cutting hunger’ in half”. However, upon closer research, an astute Samoan writer named Mata’afa Keni Lesa discovered that the story was inaccurate. The article claimed to have met the first of the Millennium Development Goals, but Lesa pointed out that the other two had gone unmet. These goals are:

Target 1.a: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is below the basic needs poverty line

Target 1.B: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people.

The 2012 Pacific Regional MDGs Tracking Report states, “…the increase in the level and depth of hardship was significant for the rural areas, especially Savai’I, which accounts for a quarter of the poor in Samoa.” With such a high percentage of Samoans below the poverty line, how can they possibly have enough income or resources to get their dietary needs met?

4. Demographics

As of 2014, 80.73 percent of the Samoan population lives in rural regions, meaning that about 81 percent of Samoans do not have easy access to trade routes,  This percentage has only increased from 1999, when it was 78.16 percent.

5. Geographical Breakdown

Only a small percentage of their land, less than 5 percent, is arable. On top of this, their access to machines like agricultural tractors is improbable, averaging 2.14 tractors per 1000 hectares of arable land. In 2012, unsafe fertilizers were banned from farming techniques.

– Leah Zazofsky

Sources: Faostat,  Samoa Observer,  Food Anthro

Photo: Google Images

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Malnutrition in Kazakhstan Region

malnutrition in kazakhstan
Malnutrition in Kazakhstan? In the heart of Central Asia, a region known for issues with health, Kazakhstan stands as a possible success story in the well being of its people. With child malnutrition rates below five percent, lower than the Central Asian average and well below the rates for some of its neighbors, the Kazakh government and aid organizations working in the country have made improvements in malnutrition efforts worthy of praise.

Born in the post-Soviet world, Kazakhstan is still a relatively new state. Made up of ethnic Kazakhs as well as a large population of ethnic Russians, Kazakhstan is the largest country to come out of the USSR other than Russia itself. It dwarfs its neighbors of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, spanning across almost three million square miles of continent but remaining landlocked. It is the biggest economy in Central Asia and is currently going through an economic diversification process that the government hopes will stabilize and lengthen growth.

Almost all indicators of malnutrition have improved in Kazakhstan in the last decade. From 2004 to 2014, the prevalence of food inadequacy declined from 10.1 percent to 5.9 percent. The percent of children who are stunted declined from 17.5 percent in 2006 to 13.1 percent just four years later.

The prevalence of anaemia in children, which is characterized by fatigue and decreased work output, decreased from 35.4 percent in 2004 to 30 percent in 2011. However, the overall presence of undernourishment had almost no change from 2004 to 2007, leaving 800,000 people vulnerable to undernourishment.

Central Asia as a region has an ongoing battle with undernourishment and malnutrition. Common demarcations of this are anaemia, which is a decrease in the amount of red blood cells in the blood, iodine deficiency, iron deficiency and Vitamin A deficiency.

Kazakhstan preformed well in all of these categories. Iodine deficiency, which was a huge problem after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has been almost completely eradicated in Kazakhstan by iodizing all salt consumed in the country. Anaemia levels are lower in the country than in most of its neighbors. Regional averages for iron deficiencies and vitamin A deficiencies hover around 50-60 percent for women and children.

While by no means in the clear with malnutrition, especially for children, Kazakhstan has continued to improve in most indicators. It is working towards a more stable, diversified economy that will hopefully keep food prices low and unchanging.

– Caitlin Huber

Sources: CIA,  Knoema,  IRIN
Photo: Inter Press Service News Agency

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Uzbekistan’s Progress in Eradicating Hunger

uzbekistan food security
This year, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) ranks Uzbekistan at 5.7 percent for its undernourished population from 2011 to 2013.

More than 800 million people suffer from hunger and the GHI examines 120 of the low-income countries that account for the vast majority of global undernourishment.

In the last 14 years, Uzbekistan has shown a steady improvement in eradicating hunger, with a decline from 3.6 million to 1.7 million of the country’s population facing food insecurity.

However, the country is still in need of renewed political commitment to achieving food security in order to continue making progress against hunger, which not only stunts physical, intellectual and even economic growth but can also lead to death.

Yuriko Shoji, the recently appointed Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Sub-regional Coordinator for Central Asia and country representative for Uzbekistan, spoke on the topic at a launch event at Tashkent State Agrarian University.

“Despite good progress made in the past two decades and an increasingly favorable environment, the full potential of agriculture – and food security for everyone – have yet to be achieved,” said Shoji. “With renewed political commitment, and good practice that can be shared with the world, food security of each and every household is within reach.”

Shoji highlighted the key requirements for overcoming the limitations to prioritize food security and nutrition issues. The event served as a platform for discussing global hunger and malnutrition.

Uzbekistan’s positive trend to combat malnutrition serves Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 of halving the proportion of undernourished people by next year. It’s a goal that is within reach if Uzbekistan and other developing countries continue making political efforts toward food security.

According to the FAO, 63 developing countries have reached the MDG target and six more are on track to reach it by 2015.

Though Uzbekistan has seen significant progress in hunger, the country must continue to set the path for others that remain chronically undernourished in order to meet next year’s MDG target.

– Chelsee Yee

Sources: The Guardian, UN, Data Wrapper
Photo: EurasiaNet