Malnutrition - Nutritional Illness in 3rd World Countries

By: Barnetta M. Parker
Rasmussen College

Author Note

Malnutrition - Nutritional Illness in 3rd World Countries is been submitted on June 21, 2015 for
Professor Carol Miller NU117/NUR1172 Section 09 Nutritional Principles in Nursing - 2015 Spring Quarter.
Malnutrition - Nutritional Illness in 3rd World Countries
Abstract:
Energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, continues to be a major health burden in developing countries. It is globally the most important risk factor for illness and death, with hundreds of millions of pregnant women and young children particularly affected (Krawinkel, 2003). In these communities, a high prevalence of poor diet and infectious disease regularly unites into a vicious circle. Although treatment protocols for severe malnutrition have in recent years become more efficient, most patients (especially in rural areas) have little or no access to formal health services and are never seen in such settings (Rice, Hyder, Socco, Black, 2000). Interventions to prevent protein– energy malnutrition range from promoting breast-feeding to food supplementation schemes, whereas micronutrient deficiencies would best be addressed through food-based strategies such as dietary diversification through home gardens and small livestock.
Introduction:
We have all seen news reports about people who are starving in third world countries plagued by war or drought. Unfortunately, many people in the world go hungry because they cannot get enough to eat most of the time. In this paper, I will discuss the Malnutrition as a global disease, the cause of Malnutrition an illness in 3rd world countries related to nutrition. I will further discuss developed global goals in Healthy People 2020 in relation to nutrition. Malnutrition literally means bad nutrition and technically includes both over- and under- nutrition. It is defined as a state in which the physical function of an individual is impaired to the point where he or she can no longer maintain adequate bodily performance process such as growth, pregnancy, lactation, physical work and resisting and recovering from disease. Study show that malnutrition contributes to more than one third of all child deaths. Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), first described in the 1920s, is observed most frequently in developing countries but has been described with increasing frequency in hospitalized and chronically ill children in 3rd world countries (Rice, Hyder, Socco, & Black, 2000). Poor environmental conditions may increase insect and protozoan infections and contribute to environmental deficiencies in micronutrients. Overpopulation, more commonly seen in developing countries, can reduce food adequacy, leading to inadequate food intake or intake of foods of poor nutritional quality and quantity. Conversely, the effects of malnutrition on individuals can create and maintain poverty, which can further hamper economic and social development. This is explained with children starting life with low intellectual quotients and being impossible later to offer the best of their expected intellectual abilities. Kwashiorkor and Marasmus are two forms of Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) that have been described (Krawinkel , 2003). The distinction between the two forms of PEM is based on the presence of edema (kwashiorkor) or absence of edema . Marasmus involves inadequate intake of protein and calories, whereas a child with kwashiorkor has fair-to-normal calorie intake with inadequate protein intake. Although significant clinical differences between kwashiorkor and marasmus are noted, some studies suggest that marasmus represents an adaptation to starvation whereas kwashiorkor represents a dysadaptation to starvation. In addition to PEM, children may be affected by micronutrient deficiencies, which also have a detrimental effect on growth and development. The most common and clinically significant micronutrient