Children’s Vulnerability to Environmental Exposures: Malnutrition

Oct 14m 2010

Source: NIH

National Library of Medicine

National Center for Biotechnology Information

Photo Source: Unsplash

Malnutrition

The 2002 World Health Report states that childhood malnutrition is the most widespread and pervasive primary risk factor for the major diseases of children (WHO 2002b). Climate change may worsen malnutrition by directly affecting agricultural yields and worsening growing conditions in areas already experiencing food insecurity (Parry et al. 2005). Changes in seasonality in regions with distinct periods of rainfall, heavy rainfall events, and droughts can all negatively affect children’s nutritional status (Choudhury and Bhuiya 1993; Maleta et al. 2003; Singh et al. 2006). In addition, there are important interactions between infection and malnutrition, resulting in increased risk of complications from infection if a child is malnourished and vice versa (Mihrshahi et al. 2007; Shell-Duncan 1995). Nutritional impacts of climate change are difficult to quantify because they result from a composite of macrosocial factors. However, climate change impacts on malnutrition, as well as on infectious disease, will likely continue to represent the largest proportion of the burden of disease on childhood morbidity and mortality attributable to climatic change.

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