Question

Meternal and child undernutrition contribute to deficits in children's development and health and productivity in adulthood. Discuss this statement.

Write 1000 words for this discussion.

Back up the argument with evidence and health and economic data.

Address all part of the statement with referances

Thank you.

Answer 1

ANSWER

The maternal and child under nutrition (MCUN)

The maternal and child under nutrition (MCUN) is a major public health problem and contributes to deficits in children's development and health and productivity in adulthood.

Under nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies contribute substantially to the global burden of disease. Impoverished communities experience high rates of under nutrition and increased exposure to infectious diseases caused by crowding and inadequate sanitation.

The maternal and child under nutrition can contribute to the following problems as stated:

• Women of reproductive age and children experience devastating health consequences as a result of limited resources, cultural influences, and biological vulnerabilities.
• Under nutrition and infectious diseases exist in a baleful synergy: under nutrition reduces immunological capacity to defend against diseases, and diseases deplete and deprive the body of essential nutrients.
• Under nutrition and infectious diseases further exacerbate poverty through lost wages, increased health care costs, and—most insidiously—impaired intellectual development that can significantly reduce earning potential.
• Health experts have recently recognized the long-term effects of early undernutrition and inadequate infant feeding for obesity and chronic diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
• Childhood malnutrition diminishes adult intellectual ability and work capacity, causing economic hardships for individuals and their families. Malnourished women tend to deliver premature or small babies who are more likely to die or suffer from suboptimal growth and development (Ref :Allen and Gillespie 2001). Poor early nutrition leads to poor school readiness and performance, resulting in fewer years of schooling, reduced productivity, and earlier childbearing. Thus, poverty, undernutrition, and ill-health are passed on from generation to generation. Undernutrition impedes economic progress in all developing countries.
• Under nutrition raises the likelihood that a child will become sick and will then die from the disease. Morbidity and mortality are highest among those most severely malnourished; however, given the high prevalence of mild to moderate underweight, the mildly or moderately underweight individuals experience the greatest total burden of disease (Ref :Fishman and others 2004).

All the available experience and evidence in this field needs more careful examination especially in South Asia and Africa where poor health infrastructure cannot afford to provide care as recommended by WHO.

For e.g. India has more than 47 million stunted children, 29% of the global total. Around 30 percent of Indian children are born with low birth weight and more than half (52%) of the mothers are also underweight (7). Additionally, iron, vitamin A and Iodine deficiency are widespread. The progress in reducing the proportion of undernourished children in India over the past decades has been modest and slower.

The major Nutrients lacking in under nutrition are as follows:

• Vitamin A deficiency
• Iron Deficiency
• Zinc Deficiency
• Iodine Deficiency

Disease Control and Prevention

Interventions to prevent or decrease malnutrition or infectious disease are expected to decrease child mortality, and interventions that accomplish both will have the greatest effect (Pelletier, Frongillo, and Habicht 1993). This subsection considers the potential for disease control and prevention efforts to reduce undernutrition in young children.

Malaria is responsible for a large portion of childhood mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa. But the nutritional deficiencies resulting from malaria have been insufficiently explored. Insecticide-treated bednets have been shown to prevent clinical episodes of malaria and decrease the prevalence of anemia in children (Lengeler 2003). Improvements in growth have also been documented.

Water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions decrease childhood malnutrition primarily by preventing diarrheal disease (Checkley and others 2004). Hand-washing interventions can reduce the risk of diarrheal diseases by about 45 percent.

Hand-washing interventions can be included in water and sanitation programs or can exist as a single intervention, and they are both effective and cost-effective (Borghi and others 2002).

CONCLUSION

To summarise everything clearly, growth faltering and micronutrient deficiency disorders are prevalent, have deleterious consequences for children's health and development, and are primary contributors to the global burden of disease. Economic development is not the only path to solving childhood undernutrition. Improvements in family income may not translate into increased food intakes because the income elasticity for caloric intake is relatively low. The effects on micronutrient deficiencies might be greater if the food sources of those nutrients (meat, seafood, eggs, fortified food products) were more sensitive to income increases and if children had access to those foods. Price subsidies may reduce undernutrition in young children if targeted to foods consumed by them; the potential contribution of price subsidies to family nutrition. Progress has been made in some areas, but the current magnitude of the problems and of the associated disease burden underscores the need for more investment in nutritional interventions.

Undernutrition is a major cause of death and disability in young children. When ranked among other causes, growth faltering and micronutrient deficiencies figure prominently, both because they are prevalent and because their consequences are devastating. Not included in the numbers, however, are the losses of lifetime productivity associated with early malnutrition and the resources that must be allocated to confront the developmental and morbidity consequences of child malnutrition, which last a lifetime.

Success has been achieved in preventing and controlling iodine deficiency, and palpable progress has been made in the past 20 years in correcting vitamin A deficiency and promoting breastfeeding; however, for iron, articulated goals have not been translated into programs, and the problem has remained the same or worsened. Zinc deficiency is now recognized as an important new challenge.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………