Reducing incidence of child malnutrition

Description

Reducing the incidence of child malnutrition involves implementing targeted interventions such as improving maternal and child nutrition education, ensuring access to adequate and diverse foods, promoting exclusive breastfeeding, and providing micronutrient supplementation. This strategy addresses underlying causes like food insecurity, poor sanitation, and inadequate healthcare by strengthening community-based nutrition programs, monitoring child growth, and facilitating timely treatment of malnutrition. The practical aim is to prevent and remedy nutritional deficiencies, supporting healthy child development and survival.

Implementation

Recent information from 61 developing countries suggests that almost half are likely to reach the goal of a 20 percent reduction in child malnutrition by 1995. The goal, agreed to by almost all nations following the 1990 World Summit for Children, is part of a longer-term attempt to halve child malnutrition in the developing world by the year 2000.