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3.1.2Types of Malnutrition and Malnutritional Diseases

Study the case below and have a discussion based on it.

A pregnant mother did not get enough nutrients during her preg-
nancy. There was no supportive environment for enough nutri-
tious food at home. So, she suffered from the diseases caused
due to malnutrition. She gave birth toan underweight child. The
baby could not get enough breastfeeding because of the low milk
supply from the mother's breast.The baby was underweight and
under height according to age. Differentproblems also appeared
in the child such as a thin body, old and wrinkled face, dry and
loose skin, and fighting behaviour.The health worker advised the
parents to make the treat1nent of marasmus. Theydid not take it
seriously. As a result, other symptoms appeared in the child such
as an enlarged tummy due to excessive water storage, a severe
loss of body fat and muscle tissues, diarrhea, and swelling of the
face. After that,the child's health was checked and it was treated
well. The child recovered gradually.
a. Why were the baby and the mother malnourished?
b. What malnutrition disease did the child suffer from?

c. What are your suggestions to be safe fron1 this problem?

Malnutrition is caused by undernutrition and over-nutrition. They
are explained briefly here.

1. Under-nutrition

Under-nutrition is a condition of insufficient nutrients in the body.
It occurs when enough essential nutrients are not consumed for a
long period of time. As a result, the children face different problems
such as not growing and putting on weight at the expected rate, stunt-
ing, and wasting. Such under-nutrient deficiencies are given here.

A. Stunting
Stunting is a condition of having low height according to age. It has
a negative impact on the physical and mental growth and develop-
1nent of the child. It is normally noticed after the age of two years.

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