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What is malnutrition?
Malnutrition is often lost in discussions around the subject of hunger,
especially in the context of the discourse to "end world hunger," or
to "feed the world." These blurred definitions help perpetuate the inadequate
response to malnutrition. It is crucial to distinguish between malnutrition
and hunger, as malnutrition requires responses that go beyond food aid.
Hunger is usually taken to mean a deficiency in caloric intake — any
person whose daily diet gives fewer than the defined minimum of 2,100
kcal is considered suffering from hunger, or undernourished. The typical
response to hunger is food aid that supplements a person's daily caloric
intake.
Malnutrition however is not merely the result of too little food. It
is a pathology caused principally by a lack of essential nutrients. Most
food aid is an inadequate response to malnutrition as it either delivers
insufficient amounts of essential nutrients or delivers them in a way
that they are destroyed by cooking or not taken up properly by the body.
Malnutrition is associated with half of all deaths in children under
the age of five each year. The risk of death is particularly high for
children with severe acute malnutrition, up to 20 times higher than a
healthy child.
» Special Feature - Nutrition Campaign › June 2008 › UN Food Crisis Summit Must Move Beyond Old Ineffective Recipes
» Special Feature - Nutrition Campaign › October 2007 › More food is not enough - MSF calls for expanded use of nutrient rich ready-to-use food
» NIGER Nutritional
Crisis index page
» MSF Still Blocked in Maradi Despite a New Memorandum of Understanding › Press Release › 01/10/08
» WHO Expert’s Meeting Has Potential to Impact Millions of Malnourished Children › Press Release › 29/09/08
» MSF activities the eastern region of Balochistan province in Pakistan › Field Update › 22/09/08
» MSF Activities in Wardher, Somali Region of Ethiopia › Field Update › 19/09/08
» Crowds looking for food › Feature › September 2008
» MSF nutritional activities in Ethiopia › Field Update › 22/08/08
»Therapeutic care and food aid for malnourished children in southern Ethiopia › Field Update › 16/07/08
» Sheleme's Story - A young patient in the MSF stabilisation clinic in Ethiopia › Feature › 14/07/08
» Repeated obstructions lead MSF Switzerland to pull out from Fiiq, Somali Region of Ethiopia › Press Release › 03/07/08
» G8 Leaders Must Take Action to Save Most Vulnerable In Food Crisis › 03/07/08
»Trapped Somali Populations Need Immediate Life-Saving Assistance › Press Release › 26/06/08
» “Right now, the food is simply not there” - Ethiopia › Field Notes › 12/06/08
» MSF expands nutritional programs in Southern regions of Ethiopia › Field Update › 05/06/08
» UN Food Crisis Summit Must Move Beyond Old Ineffective Recipes › Press Release › 02/06/08
» “The rats eat all the food“ - Interview with Frido Herinckx, Head of Mission Bangladesh › Field
Notes › 23/05/08
» MSF Nutritional intervention in the Oromiya region of Ethiopia › Press Release › 27/05/08
» MSF Releases 10th Annual “Top Ten” Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories of 2007 › Press Release › 20/12/07
» Niger – Acute
malnutrition: 2007 showing worrying trends › Feature › June
200
» Myanmar refugees
in Bangladesh: stuck with nowhere to go › Press release
> 12/03/2007
» Fear in the heart
of India › Feature > 02/02/07
» Nutrition:
Niger, No. 4 › Newsletter › Jan
2007
» Somalia – MSF
resumes activities in Dinsor, new project opens in Beledweyne › Feature
> 26/01/07
» Matthew Cleary is
a Sydney nurse and Field coordinator in southern Niger › Letter
Home > Nov 2006
» Flooding increases
humanitarian needs in Somalia › Press Release > 22/11/06
» Nutrition:
Niger No. 3 › Newsletter › Sep 2006
» Robin
Sands is
a logistician responsible for food supply in Maradi, southern Niger › Letter
Home >
Oct 2006
» Nutrition:
Niger No. 2 › Newsletter › Aug 2006
» Exploratory
and emergency missions in south-east Chad › Project > Aug 2006
» DRC: Alarming
medical and sanitary situation: MSF brings assistance to 39,000 displaced
people in Gety > Press Release > 20/07/06
» Jason
Andean is
a Logistician from Tasmania in Northern Angola › Letter Home > Jun
2006
» Darfur,
Sudan: no peace, no food > Project > May 2006
» Nutrition:
Niger No. 1 › Newsletter › May 2006
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