EFFECTS OF MALNUTRITRION ON CHILDREN'S.

Nutrition is one of the most important factors determining growth and development in children. What a child eats affect his/her physical growth as well as cognition development. Nutrition which is also called nourishment is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary (in the form of food) to support life. Nutrition is the basic source of energy that fuels the body for everyday activities. Malnutrition occurs when the body is not properly nourished either through insufficient nourishment known as undernourishment or when there is excessive intake of food in the body known as over-nourishment. Most often when people talk about malnutrition the focus has always been on the undernourishment which is more common and highly devastating. Undernourishment occurs primarily when women and children are in poverty, lack food, live in poor hygienic condition, lack care, and have inappropriate feeding system. More than 30 percent of children's death around the world has been attributed to malnutrition: specifically malnutrition resulting from undernourishment.

Studies have shown that good nutrition and good health are closely related throughout the life span but the effects of malnutrition is more striking, highly devastating and enduring during infancy.
Whether or not children are well-nourished during their first years of life will have a profound effect on their health status and also their ability to think analytically, process information, communicate well, socialize effectively and function well in the society. In young children (age 0-8), malnutrition results in delayed physical growth and motor skills; affects cognitive development resulting in low IQ; behavioral problems and deficient skills in school; low attention span. Learning impairment and low academic achievement.

This is why as an early childhood educator, the issue of malnutrition, especially as it relates to children is of great importance to me. Malnutrition negatively affects a child's performance in school, a child that is not properly fed cannot listen to a teacher. An hungry child is an unteachable child. Survival precedes learning. Again undernourishment is inimical to good health. Good nutrition is the first line of defense against numerous diseases in early childhood, malnutrition breaks and destroys this all important wall of defense. As Ann Veneman, UNICEF's executive director said,“undernourishment steals a child's strength and makes illness that the body might otherwise fight off far more dangerous.”

The issue of malnutrition in Central African Republic is alarming and calls for urgent global attention. In a report by UNICEF, about 1 million children under five years are living below acceptable nutritional standards. Preliminary assessment conducted in three provinces of Mambere Kadei, Sangha Mbaere and Lobaye revealed that 16 per cent of children under five are acutely malnourished, far above the emergency thresholds of 2 oer cent for severe acute malnutrition and 15 per cent for global acute malnutrition.

For the sake of the future of these children and many more in other regions and countries of the world, global actions and commitments on food security and nutrition is necessary. Malnutrition accounts for one third of nutrition-related causes of death in children. Malnutrition can also prevent children from reaching their full mental and physical potential. Unless urgent attention is paid to addressing the causes of children undernutrition today, the society risks payinga higher cost tomorrow. The best strategy to address the prevalence of malnutrition amongst children remains the one that addresses the many causes of undernutrition.

SOURCES

Facts For Life. http://www.factsforlifeglobal.org/05/

Sagon, C., Daruyan., A. 1994. Literacy- “The Path to A More Prosperous, Less dangerous America”. Parade Magazine, March 6. 1994

UNICEF : Malnutrition Among Children in Southern Central African Republic. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/media_50744.htm