[pronut-hiv] Nutrition for Health and Development

["ProNut-HIV" <pronut-hiv@healthnet.org>]

Nutrition for Health and Development
http://www.who.int/nutrition/en/

Nutrition is an input to and foundation for health and development.
Interaction of infection and malnutrition is well-documented. Better
nutrition means stronger immune systems, less illness and better health.
Healthy children learn better. Healthy people are stronger, are more
productive and more able to create opportunities to gradually break the
cycles of both poverty and hunger in a sustainable way. Better nutrition
is a prime entry point to ending poverty and a milestone to achieving
better quality of life. 

Freedom from hunger and malnutrition is a basic human right and their
alleviation is a fundamental prerequisite for human and national
development.

WHO has traditionally focused on the vast magnitude of the many forms
of nutritional deficiency, along with their associated mortality and
morbidity in infants, young children and mothers. However, the world is
also seeing a dramatic increase in other forms of malnutrition
characterized by obesity and the long-term implications of unbalanced
dietary and lifestyle practices that result in chronic diseases such as
cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.

All forms of malnutrition's broad spectrum are associated with
significant morbidity, mortality, and economic costs, particularly in
countries where both under- and overnutrition co-exist as is the case in
developing countries undergoing rapid transition in nutrition and
life-style.

Challenges

- Poor nutrition contributes to 1 out of 2 deaths (53%) associated with
infectious diseases among children aged under five in developing
countries 
- 1 out of 2 children in Africa with severe malnutrition dies during
hospital treatment due to inappropriate care 
- 1 out of 4 preschool children suffers from under-nutrition, which can
severely affect a child's mental and physical development 
- Under-nutrition among pregnant women in developing countries leads to
1 out of 6 infants born with low birth weight. This is not only a risk
factor for neonatal deaths, but also causes learning disabilities,
mental, retardation, poor health, blindness and premature death. 
- Inappropriate feeding of infants and young children are responsible
for one-third of the cases of malnutrition. 
- 1 out of 3 people in developing countries are affected by vitamin and
mineral deficiencies and therefore more subject to infection, birth
defects and impaired physical and psycho-intellectual development. 
- Zinc deficiencies: magnitude unknown but likely to prevail in
deprived populations; associated with growth retardation, diarrhoea and
immune deficiency 
- 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS are exposed to an increased
risk of food insecurity and malnutrition, espeicially in poor settings,
which may further aggravate their situation. 

But this is just one side of the problem.

- out of 3 overweight and obese people now live in developing
countries, the vast majority in emerging markets and transition
economies. 
- By 2010, more obese people will live in developing countries than in
the developed world. 
- Under-and over-nutrition problems and diet-related chronic diseases
account for more than half of the world's diseases and hundreds of
millions of dollars in public expenditure.