The Silent Epidemic Striking the Globe

Malnutrition most people think it is just a lack food, in my opinion it is not just that. In fact, malnutrition is the lack of the necessary food that the human body needs. Malnutrition is a serious condition that occurs when a person diet does not contain the right amount of nutrients (Your.MD). Malnutrition is a global and massive issue that from my point of view does not get enough attention.

Being born in one of the 3rd word countries, although personally nor myself or my family were impacted but many were not so lucky and unfortunately many people especially kids around were suffering from that disease.

As stated in my title, malnutrition is the silent epidemic since it does not just affect a part of the world, but it is everywhere mainly in less fortunate countries like Mexico, Burkina Faso, India, Bangladesh etc. A person suffering from malnutrition is nine times more likely to die from common illnesses (PBS.

org). In Bangladesh for example nearly half of all children under the age of five are malnourished.

Every year more than couple millions of people die of malnutrition. This brings a memory from 2010 when Haiti was facing a dark moment after the earthquake that kill more than a couple hundred thousands of people and left many more injured. Food around that time was a scarcity. The U.S has been known to provide aid to other countries like Haiti in scary moment like those. From what I learn in the past couple years and from this class the only problem is that most of food provided from aid are not/ does not provide any or enough of the nutrients needed for the human body to function properly.

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The food provide were not has nourishing. They simply were not the right kind of food like those high in proteins or animal-based food. Those type of food just fill one’s stomach and in turn does the total opposite. For example, when food like that are sent across the world to help those that are malnourished, they usually end up losing weight instead of keeping it or gaining some. The sad story is most of the providers like the U.S and other world powers when they provide aid they just are not enough. It can be paralyzing to think about it, but good news is step by step things can change. In fact, couple years ago, the USDA came up with a peanut paste that change the game forever for those in needs.

Like stated before, malnutrition is not just the lack of food, but excess amount of food is also considered as malnutrition. This type of malnutrition will be discussed in the next paragraph but keep in mind that malnutrition is not just a by product of simply lack of food. The way to fight this silent epidemic is to bring it out into the light and have people eat the right and varied amount of food. The quality and quantity of food is the biggest commodity in this fight. The necessary food to fight malnutrition are the proteins like milk, carbohydrates like rice and fruits and vegetables.

One of the biggest side effect of malnutrition is how bad it compromises the immune system and neither children nor adults nor elderly are safe mainly those in the 3rd world countries. The immune system since compromised makes it hard for the body to fight disease like common diseases. It then in turn decreases the development which decreases productivity. According to the UNICEF “malnutrition has a million faces: a child never reaches full weight, anemic, blind due to Vitamin A deficiency, a child who become obese through overconsumption of low-quality food, a desperately thin and wasted child”. And According to article publish by Doctors Without Borders some of the major’s signs of severe acute malnutrition are “swelling of the stomach, face, legs, and changes in skin pigmentation”. Although there are so many signs of the disease, it somehow manages to go seamless around the world. This issue also knock on the door of each government, step by step by providing the right kind of aid a change can be made.

Another side of the spectrum is malnutrition caused by excess or imbalance of the intake of nutrients and organ function, and it encompasses both overnutrition and undernutrition (World Health Organization). This side of the spectrum is link to obesity since most of those or approximately all those obese are malnourished. According to Doctor Mark Hyman, “30% of Americans diets fall short of plant derived nutrients, and Vitamins. 80% are running low on Vitamin D. And 9 out of 10 people are deficient in omega-3 fats”. These numbers are quite high, from whichever side of the spectrum one looks, this disease is a massive problem.

The way to fight malnutrition is to be provided by a diet that adhere with the necessity the human body needs. More importantly, one must one the right quality and quantity of food. This silent epidemic is a global issue that hit not just the third world countries (although it is way more common in those countries) but also each country in the world. Information is a huge commodity, in this case this commodity need to be shared. The more people involved the better. Each people is involved and even the smallest gesture matters even if it is towards oneself to eat the right quality and quantity of food. Although millions die of it, each people can help lower this number drastically by adequate care and feeding practices.

Works Cited

1. “How Malnutrition Causes Obesity.” Dr. Mark Hyman, 18 Oct. 2014, drhyman.com/blog/2012/02/29/how-malnutrition-causes-obesity/
2. NHS. “Malnutrition.” Your.MD, Your.MD, 2019, www.your.md/condition/malnutrition/#chapter-key-information.
3. “The Faces of Malnutrition.” UNICEF, UNICEF, 20 July 2016, www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_faces-of-malnutrition.html.
4. Brian Epstein. “Malnutrition.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 16 July 2016, www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/malnutrition-the-silent-epidemic/2305/.
5. “Child Malnutrition.” Across the World: The Slums of Annawadi, connectyourworld.weebly.com/child-malnutrition.html.
6. “Malnutrition.” MSF USA, www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/medical-issues/malnutrition.