Nutrition for Global Health (Doc)

Running head: NUTRITION FOR GLOBAL HEALTH
NUTRITION FOR GLOBAL HEALTH
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1NUTRITION FOR GLOBAL HEALTH
Table of Contents
1. Introduction:................................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion....................................................................................................................................2
2.1 Health, Social and Economic Consequences of Nutrition problem:.....................................2
2.2 Cause of Malnutrition:...........................................................................................................4
2.3 Factors Influencing Nutrition Condition:..............................................................................6
2.4 Actions to address Maternal Nutrition Problems:.................................................................7
2.5 Nutrition Programme for the Pregnant Mothers:...................................................................7
2.6 Link of the Programme with Other Programmes and Recommendation:.............................9
3. Conclusion:..................................................................................................................................9
Reference:......................................................................................................................................10

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1. Introduction:
Nutrition is the building block of healthy life and well-being. It is important to have
balanced diet in order to maintain healthy lifestyle. A balanced diet should contain every
component of nutrition such as protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals (Dumlu et al.
2014). Unhealthy diet, that means a diet in which there is deficiency or overdose of nutrients,
could lead to serious health issues. Malnutrition is one of the biggest issues related to nutrition
and due to poor nutritional condition in modern day; many people are suffering from such
nutrition issue (Mehta et al. 2013). Health issues related to nutrition can affect any generation or
population such as new born, children adults and old aged people as well. However, the pregnant
mothers are more prone to such nutrition issue as it could affect not only the health of the mother
but also the foetus. If the mother is suffering from malnutrition, it can cause difficulties in
survival of the foetus. The poor nutrition condition of the pregnant mother affects the delivery
condition of the mother as well. Adequate nutrition is important for the pregnant mother as it
affects the growth of body and brain of the foetus. It can lead to poor health condition so that the
baby could bear physical or mental challenges (Lee et al. 2013). The paper will discuss briefly
about the consequence of nutritional issues, various factors influencing the nutritional condition
of pregnant mothers and impact of different nutritional programmes.
2. Discussion
2.1 Health, Social and Economic Consequences of Nutrition problem:
Healthy pregnancy is important in order to give birth of a healthy baby. Poor nutrition
condition of the pregnant mother affect the health condition of the foetus to an extent. Maternal

3NUTRITION FOR GLOBAL HEALTH
malnutrition affects the physical and mental development of the foetus. The baby could be
susceptible to various severe diseases, for example, neural tube defects, heart disease, problems
related to low weight and many others. Poor nutrition condition of the pregnant mothers is
responsible for the low IQ level of the child. Even due to the maternal malnutrition condition, the
mother could give birth to a physically or mentally challenged baby (Agarwal et al. 2013). The
mothers are also susceptible to various health related issues. One of the main issues is the
occurrence of anaemia. Anaemia is mainly caused due to the lack of iron and folic acid and it
could leads to the risk of haemorrhage, which is the main reason of high mortality rate during
pregnancy. 40% of the pregnant woman is suffering from anaemia due to the lack of iron (Morsy
and Alhady 2014). Calcium deficiency is another risk factor of maternal mortality. Malnutrition
is the main cause of infections during pregnancy as it reduces the immunity of the pregnant
mother. Another health issue related to the malnutrition is reduction in breast milk production.
Inadequate feeding of breast milk can cause severe health issue such as stunting growth to the
newborn.
There are many social consequences occur due to malnutrition in the pregnant mothers. It
is one of the biggest causes of reducing the rate of well-being in the society and affects the
healthy lifestyle of the individual. The poor nutrition status of the newborns is responsible for the
poor nutrition status of the society and the population. Maternal malnutrition plays an important
role in diminishing the health status of the women in the society. Inadequate nutrients results in
the low IQ of the children. Study has shown that, most of the children with stinting growth delay
to get admission in the school (Chertoff 2015). They may results in the less educated adults and
could suffer from earning problem or unemployment in future. Such incidents affect the overall
social status of the population. High infant and maternal mortality rate of a population is due to