The Undernutrition Epidemic - The Lancet

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The Undernutrition Epidemic - 31st October 2009

The editorial addresses the issue of severity of malnutrition specifically undernutrition of a significant number in the world's population. The major point is the fact that the issue is not getting the attention and action it deserves and requires. According to the article, there are over 1 billion malnourished peoples, the largest number that the world has seen in years mainly in Asia and Africa. The crucial thing to pay attention to is the fact that this number is made up of the Worlds poorest peoples and within that, children are the most affected. Reports by the International Food Policy Research Institute show that by the year 2050, there will be 25 million more malnourished children as a result of climate change.

The biggest concern is why the international community has done little to combat this preventable problem. Some of the reasons are that with the 2009 economic crisis, funding awarded to agencies like the WFP and FAO have dropped significantly. The other reason is that fact the severity of the malnutrition is down played by those who have written on it. The term "hungry" is often used in place of malnourished and undernourished, since hunger could be assumed to be the temporary lack of food, often for a few hours, policymakers pay little attention to the issue.

Malnutrition (undernutrition and obesity) should be of global concern and more pressure need to be put on the international community to rectify this preventable problem. It has become one of the main killers of children in developing countries because affected populations become more susceptible to dangerous diseases and infections. For example 46% (that 60 million) of India's children under the age of 5 are underweight, resulting in a significant amount of child deaths. In Ethiopia, Somalia, Niger and other parts of Africa, these numbers are on the rise, also based on a report of IFPRI the number of undernourished children on the continent will increase by 3.3 million by 2025. How many more children have to die before this moves to the top 5 on the list of issues for immediate concern? Or could this be a form of population control?