Nutritional deficiencies in the developing world: current status and opportunities for intervention.
Several contributory factors such as poverty, lack of purchasing power, household food insecurity, and limited general knowledge about appropriate nutritional practices increase the risk of undernutrition in developing countries. The synergistic interaction between inadequate dietary intake and disease burden leads to a vicious cycle that accounts for much of the high morbidity and mortality in these countries. Three groups of underlying factors contribute to inadequate dietary intake and infectious disease: inadequate maternal and child care, household food insecurity, and poor health services in an unhealthy environment.
Division of Women and Child Health, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, PO Box 3500, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
Yasir
Y
Khan
Zulfiqar A
ZA
Bhutta
D002648:Child; D003906:Developing Countries; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D009017:Morbidity; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011203:Poverty; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors