wasted lives , wasting away

A third of deaths in children under five in those countries in the developing world are linked to poor diet, a report by Unicef suggests.More than one third of children who die from pneumonia, diarrhea and other illnesses could have survived had they not been undernourished. Those who survive often suffer from poorer physical health throughout their lives and from a diminished capacity to learn and to earn a decent income.
"They become trapped in an intergenerational cycle of ill health and poverty," UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said.

The 119-page report, titled "Tracking Progress on Child and Maternal Nutrition," provides the most recent health and nutrition data.It also provides information that demonstrates how improving child nutrition is entirely feasible.

195 million children - one in three - have stunted growth.

An estimated 129 million children are underweight.

Eighty percent of the developing world's stunted children live in 24 countries, including India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Vietnam, Sudan, Kenya, Mexico and South Africa. The 18 countries with the highest prevalence of stunting among children under 5 years old include Afghanistan, Yemen, Guatemala, Timor-Leste, Burundi, Madagascar, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Zambia. The prevalence rate in these 18 countries is 45 percent or more, with the rate in nine of these countries topping 50 percent.

But little money has gone into ensuring kids in the developing world get enough food, compared to high-profile problems like AIDS. Though AIDS causes about 2 percent of all child deaths, it gets more than 20 cents of every dollar spent on public health.UNICEF was unable to say how much it spends on nutrition. But last year, its sister agency, the World Health Organization, spent about six times as much on AIDS in Africa as it did on nutrition.