Malnutrition, leading cause of death among children – Paediatrician

Dr Anna Shafe, a Paediatrician, has attributed the leading cause of death among children less than three years to malnutrition.

Shafe told our correspondent on Friday in Abuja that half of all deaths in children less than three years had malnutrition as the underlying cause.

According to her, these children will have recovered from common child diseases if they had not been malnourished, but because they are malnourished they die.

She noted that management of severe acute malnutrition focuses mainly on reducing mortality.

She however said that management of moderate acute malnutrition was more focused on preventing mortality by reducing further deterioration of nutritional status.

The paediatrician described malnutrition as multifaceted, adding that it encompasses both over nutrition which is mainly associated with overweight and obesity.

She added that under nutrition, which is another term in malnutrition, referred to multiple conditions including acute and chronic malnutrition and micro nutrient deficiencies.

She noted that chronic malnutrition results from insufficient intake or absorption of essential nutrients over a protracted period.

According to her, the most commonly used indicator of chronic malnutrition is associated with developmental impairments and reduced economic potential later in life.

She said that micro nutrient deficiency was a form of chronic malnutrition that could have marked impacts on health, development and productivity, over the lifespan.

She said that the impacts of chronic malnutrition were particularly pronounced when they occurred in the first years of life, which she said was a period of rapid growth and development.

According to her, acute malnutrition results from sudden reductions in food intake or diet quality and is often combined with pathological causes.