Children and hunger.Imagine going to bed at night without having eaten a meal all day. Imagine walking to school in the morning without breakfast--and having no prospect of eating a nutritious nutritious /nu·tri·tious/ (noo-trish´us) affording nourishment. nu·tri·tious adj. Providing nourishment; nourishing. nutritious affording nourishment. lunch or dinner. Chronic (always present) hunger is a fact of life in many parts of the world, especially in poor, developing countries. And no group suffers more from hunger than children. Every year, more than 6 million children under the age of 5 die as a result of hunger. Hunger also has terrible effects on those who survive. Malnutrition malnutrition, insufficiency of one or more nutritional elements necessary for health and well-being. Primary malnutrition is caused by the lack of essential foodstuffs—usually vitamins, minerals, or proteins—in the diet. , a severe form of undernourishment, is a lack of most or all of the nutritional elements necessary for a human body. It can seriously affect a child's mental and physical development. Malnutrition also makes children far more vulnerable to mostly preventable diseases, like diarrhea diarrhea (dīərē`ə), frequent discharge of watery feces from the intestines, sometimes containing blood and mucus. It can be caused by excessive indulgence in alcohol or other liquids or foods that prove irritating to the stomach or , respiratory infections Noun 1. respiratory infection - any infection of the respiratory tract respiratory tract infection infection - the pathological state resulting from the invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms , and measles measles or rubeola (r  bē`ələ), highly contagious disease of young children, caused by a filterable virus and spread by droplet spray from the nose, mouth, .Below are charts that show three specific results of malnutrition. Nearly 150 million children in the world are underweight Underweight An situation where a portfolio does not hold a sufficient amount of securities to satisfy the accepted benchmark of the portfolio's asset allocation strategy. Notes: , meaning they do not weigh as much as they should for their age. Those who are severely underweight experience a condition known as wasting, from which almost 50 million children suffer. Stunting, or a failure to grow to a natural height, afflicts nearly 200 million. What percentage of children in each area of the world suffer from each condition? Questions 1. What does it mean that hunger in the developing world is a "chronic" condition? -- 2. Which region of the world has the highest percentage of children suffering from wasting? -- 3. What percentage of children in sub-Saharan sub-Sa·har·an adj. Of, relating to, or situated in the region of Africa south of the Sahara. Adj. 1. sub-Saharan - of or relating to or situated in the region south of the Sahara Desert Africa suffer from wasting? -- 4. How much more of a problem is stunting than wasting in sub-Saharan Africa--measuring by percentage points? -- 5. How many children does stunting affect worldwide? -- 6. What percentage of Latin American/ Caribbean children are stunted stunt 1 tr.v. stunt·ed, stunt·ing, stunts To check the growth or development of. n. 1. One that stunts. 2. One that is stunted. 3. ? -- 7. If all the countries in India's region of the world had the same percentage of underweight children, how much would that be? -- 8. A generation of children in North Korea may not even come up to their parents' noses. What percentage of children in that region suffer from the same condition? -- 9. Why are severely undernourished children especially vulnerable to these conditions? -- 10. Using calculations based on this chart, about how many children in the Middle East and North Africa are underweight? --
Hunger-related Conditions Affecting Children Under 5
UNDERWEIGHT WASTING STUNTING
Sub-Saharan Africa 22% 23% 25%
East Asia and 18% 14% 20%
the Pacific
South Asia 52% 54% 44%
Latin America/ 3% 2% 5%
Caribbean
Middle East and 5% 7% 6%
North Africa
SOURCES: The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2003, U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization; UNICEF State of the World's Children 2002
Notes: Table made from pie chart.
Answers 1. It is always present. 2. South Asia This article is about the geopolitical region in Asia. For geophysical treatments, see Indian subcontinent. South Asia, also known as Southern Asia 3. 23 percent 4. 2 percent 5. 200 million 6. 5 percent 7. 52 percent 8. 20 percent 9. Their bodies are not getting necessary nutrition. 10. 7.5 million |
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