'We just have to put a stop to malnutrition'

COMMENT - Tax the mines for everything they owe or nationalize. That would put $1.5 billion into the hands of the state, from which they would easily fund work projects, and investments in small and medium sized agriculture, which creates the greatest number of jobs and distributes wealth over the general population. It all comes back to $3 billion a year fleeing the country. That is the result of neoliberal economics, and IMF and World Bank conditionalities based on neoliberal economic principles.

'We just have to put a stop to malnutrition'
By The Post
Sat 30 June 2012, 13:25 CAT

DR Joseph Katema, our Minister of Community Development, says that high levels of poverty in our country have contributed to the 50 per cent of our children who are malnourished. Dr Katema further says that malnutrition in our country is not as a result of poor feeding methods on the part of mothers but the shortage of food and that we need to tackle the root cause of the malnutrition.

It is true that there is a serious shortage of food in many of our families. Hunger, poverty, unemployment, hopelessness are the terms that could well define the living conditions of a great part of our population. This is an affront to our collective conscience as a people, as a nation.

It is an imperative need of our times to be aware of these realities, because of what a situation affecting so many people entails in terms of human suffering and the squandering of life and intelligence.

We have been told by Dr Katema that food shortage is the main catalyst of malnutrition in our country. Of course, there are other small causes like negligence and irresponsibility on the part of some individuals that can cause malnutrition to themselves and their children.

But malnutrition is not something that we should accept to live with. And as Dr Katema says, "we just have to put a stop to that". Malnutrition is simply a condition of the body when it is unable to absorb the right amount of nutrients in food. This low level of nutrient intake exists because of low levels of food in our country, in our homes.

Malnutrition causes many physical problems for our people. The causes of malnutrition open up a can of worms causing horrendous effects on our people.

Most of the childhood deaths from malnutrition are caused by protein-energy malnutrition. This type of malnutrition occurs when the human body doesn't consume enough protein and calories. One of the severe forms of protein-energy malnutrition is called marasmus. When a person acquires this condition, his or her body basically disintegrates to almost nothing.

The body's fat, muscle and other tissues waste away. The other form of protein-energy malnutrition is called kwashiorkor. This condition occurs when the body receives a normal amount of calories, but not enough protein. Kwashiorkor affects the properties of the liver and causes inflammation to the tissues of the body.

When the body is deficient of essential proteins, other conditions can happen to the body. When the human diet is lacking in iodine, cretinism and irreversible brain damage will occur. Cretinism is a sever stunt in growth due to a lack of thyroid hormones.

The thyroid hormones use iron in the body to control metabolic rates, protein synthesis and cell growth and differentiation in the body. When humans lack vitamin A, their bodies are susceptible to blindness and an increase in risk of infection and death.

When the body is lacking iron, fatigue sets in along with anaemia, splitting headaches and glossitis. Glossitis is an infection on the tongue. Anaemia is a state of the body when there are low levels of hemoglobin, a molecule inside red blood cells.

When there are low levels of hemoglobin, organs and tissues of the body don't receive enough oxygen. When there are low levels of vitamin D in the diet, the human body slows its growth and can contract rickets. Rickets is the softening of bone which can lead to body deformation and fractures.

When the body lacks zinc, a diminished immune system sets in and the ability to heal wounds is decreased. Also, hyperpigmentation can be acquired by the body. Hyperpigmentation is the darkening of the skin due to an increase in melanin, the pigmentation of the skin.

Abdominal changes are another effect of malnutrtion. People with malnutrition have very poor abdominal musculature which can lead to abdominal distension. Also, the body's fatty tissues inflate the abdominal region which can cause hepatomegaly. Hepatomegaly is the enlargement of the liver which results in metabolic tumours and increases toxicity levels in the body.

Malnutrition can also cause negative effects on the body's skin. The body's skin becomes dry and can be easily peeled away, leaving raw areas on the body. Also, hyperpigmented plaques grow over these raw areas on the body.

The nails on a person's hands and feet change from a smooth, healthy texture, to an unhealthy fissured or ridged texture. A person's hair can change, too. The body's hair thins and hair colour fades away to a dull brown. The hair follicles become weak and hair can be easily pulled out of the skin.

Through malnutrition, chronic illnesses and diseases can be easily acquired as well. One chronic illness that correlates with malnutrition is cystic fibrosis.

Heart diseases and neuromuscular diseases also combine with malnutrition effects. A disease that is easily contracted by people affected by malnutrition is measles. People contract measles easily when they have malnutrition because the lack of vitamins and calories in their bodies greatly reduces their immune systems' abilities.

Malnutrition's effects are especially hazardous to children. Children who have malnutrition can experience dwarfism. Also, these children can experience prematurity and developmental delays. Malnutrition even has its grasp on babies before they are born.

Mothers-to-be who are lacking essential vitamins and nutrients in their diet often give birth to badly deformed babies. Also, rickets and anaemia have been associated with babies who have mothers with malnutrition.

Whatever efforts are made today to protect our children, to prevent their death and illness, to provide them with food will shape the basic human qualities of that decisive percentage of the future population of our country.

Clearly, the effects that follow malnutrition are monstrous. If people stricken with malnutrition don't die, they can spend the rest of their lives with a misshapen body, without vision, or having pains and sores all over their body.
Shortage of food is a phenomenon intimately associated with poverty, with lack of opportunities, with ignorance, inequalities and injustice.

And as long as food security is not made a priority; as long as poverty, ignorance and unemployment fail to disappear, fail to be directly fought against, little will be achieved in improving the conditions of our people and in wiping out malnutrition.

The existence of such large numbers of undernourished people in our country constitutes an affront to all of us. A stable, permanent solution must be found to this serious problem. It is clear to all that the solution for this and other serious problems lies in the elimination of poverty, the creation of jobs, but a lot can be done right now.

The interventions by government to pull most families out of poverty and fight malnutrition that Dr Katema is talking about need to be intensified and accelerated.