The impact of malnutrition on childhood infections
Almost half of all childhood deaths worldwide occur in children with malnutrition, predominantly in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. This review summarizes the mechanisms by which malnutrition and serious infections interact with each other and with children's environments. This study involving not only lack of nutrients, but also other risk factors such as exposure to pathogens, lack of access to healthcare and poverty. This focusses on under nutrition among children in low and middle-income countries, with a focus on diarrhoea and pneumonia, the other commonest childhood life-threatening infections worldwide.
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is deficiency, excess or imbalance in a person's intake of energy and/or specific nutrients in relation to their requirements. Recently there has been increased focus on the use of mid-upper arm circumference by which provides better predictive value for mortality. However, cut offs to define malnutrition by MUAC based on its relationship with infectious disease or mortality outcomes had only been validated and used amongst children aged 6–59 months. Severe malnutrition can also be defined by the presence of kwashiorkor, a syndrome that is characterized by nutritional oedema, skin depigmentation, inflammation, sloughing etc.
Malnutrition may result in to a diet low in energy or specific nutrients, a wide range of antenatal & postnatal environmental exposures, acute infection, chronic illness or psychosocial neglect. Child malnutrition is the single and biggest contributor to under-five mortality due to greater susceptibility to infections and slow recovery from illness.
Children who do not reach their optimum height or consistently experience sessions of weight loss during childhood are affected in the long term infections. They do not reach their optimum size as adults, their brains are affected which results in low IQs and they are at greater risk of infection which kills may children during their early years.
Child malnutrition also impacts on education fulfilment. Vitamin A deficiency reduces immunity and increases the incidence and gravity of infectious diseases which results in increased school absenteeism. The degree of cognitive impairments is directly related to the Iron Deficiency Anaemia and severity of stunting.
Maternal malnutrition increases the risk of poor pregnancy outcomes including premature or low-birth-weight babies, obstructed labour, and postpartum haemorrhage. Severe anaemia during pregnancy is linked to increased mortality.
Low-birth-weight is a significant contributor to infant mortality. Moreover, low birth-weight babies who survive are likely to suffer growth retardation and illness throughout their life. Growth-retarded adult women are likely to carry on the vicious cycle of malnutrition by giving birth to low birth-weight babies.
