As Americans we tend
to take for granted the foods and nutrients that are available just as we take
for granted our education. I grew up differently and was always reminded of the
things and opportunities that I have here in America because my parents are
migrants from Laos where no grain of rice is ever wasted. We complain about
hating school and wanting McDonalds instead of a home cooked meal, but Hmong
children in Laos fail to have access to education and eat off of limited
resources that don’t support their estimated energy requirement along with many
other countries.
“UNICEF and the
‘Medicalisation’ of Malnutrition in Children” section in Global Health Watch
3 caught my attention because it discusses the great amount of malnutrition
in children in underdeveloped countries. Additionally, I also am very
passionate about children and hope to contribute to this concern in my future
career in public health. The article states that, “nutritional status is
influenced by five interrelated factors: political instability, poverty and/or
inequality; biased and ineffective development policies; changes in the
environment (including climate change); and lack of health care, and household
food security.”(249) This I completely agree on because I truly think that
malnutrition in developing countries is due to more than just the lack of
agriculture and resources even though those are two huge contributors. The article
also states that 90 percent of child malnutrition is in Africa and Asia, which
is personally important to me because I have family from the country of Laos
and understand the need for nutrition and health resources.
From my view point a
key factor in malnutrition is that it has a great amount due to the lack of
education. Education is a key role because it can not only help teach the
importance of nutrition, but create awareness and knowledge that can then lead
to people of their own country/tribe to reach out for resources, develop and
discover ways to a better nutrition system. Take me for example. I thought I was
pretty healthy. I eat fruits and vegetable, limit my carbs, limit my sweets,
and is fairly active. Then I took nutrition this fall quarter and began to read
my nutrition book NUTR by McGuire/Beerman, which consequently directly relates to
malnutrition. It is all about proper nutrition that average people need.
I realized that I am actually not eating as properly as I thought that I was. USDA
recommends that the average person eat 6 ounces of grains, 2 ½ cups of
vegetables, 2 cups of fruits, 3 cups of dairy and 5 ½ ounces of protein. Education
plays a key role in nutrition especially in children because the earlier they
are taught about the important of health the more they are aware of their
nutritional needs. Whether that is in developing countries or even in the
United States where obesity is a growing issue it begins with children and
parents being aware and uneducated about a healthy diet. Just as many of the
U.S. population is over consuming certain foods, developing countries are under
consuming in which both needs educating and in return the knowledge can be
spread.
You’re probably
thinking, well even if there is education there is a limited resource of
certain needed foods and nutrients in different countries. I am very aware of
this because I am Hmong and my parents are from a very poor underdeveloped
country called Laos. Many parts of Laos, Hmong people are living in jungles,
and have limited places to farm and grow crops. I specifically chose picture because
it emotionally affects me since it is Hmong child who lives in the jungle in
which most of his food comes from roots, trees, and occasional protein from
hunting. If you just look at his surroundings you can tell the environment that
he is in is like a jungle/forest, in which the limitations of different
nutrients are unavailable. These areas like
the photo cause “a state of poor nutritional status caused by imbalance
between the body’s nutrient requirements and nutrient availability” (NUTR 21)
which connects directly with Global Watch 3 and my nutrition book because they
all intertwine around the issue of nutrition and health.
A genius way to
provide countries like Laos with available nutrients is through associations
like The Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RTF). They try to help the Severe
Acute Malnutrition (SAM) issues to decrease the risk of mortality rates. “Your [our] body needs essential nutrients,
but it cannot make them at all or cannot make them in adequate amounts” (NUTR 4),
in which we need to consume. RUTF tries make up for this with products such as Plumpy’Nut
that was introduced in the 1990’s. Plumpy'Nut provides essential nutrients that were proven
to decrease the death of children to three percent out of 60,000 children and
increased their weight gain on average of 8g/kg/day. The key here is to provide mothers and children up to two years to get over malnutrition.The support to distribute and create more nutrient rich, easy accessible, easy storage
foods such as Plimpy’Nut could really make a difference in child malnutrition
in many countries.
My goal one day in
my public/global health career is to tackle this issue of health. Not only is my society in the U.S. effected
by obesity but also my homeland is affect by malnutrition. Malnutrition is definitely a global
issue and has been a known issue for a long time. The idea of poverty, lack of
education, lack of resources, lack of public health are all issues that many
countries has to fight with to obtain the essential nutritional needs
especially for pregnant women and young children. Nutrition, education, and
global issues go hand in hand. There's a huge population of malnourished children
in so many countries that need help. As cliché as it sounds I honestly believe
we can enhance the health and social aspects all of these areas. “They may say I'm be a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
-Kayee Xiong
Sources:
Global Health Watch 3: An Alternative World
Health Report (2011)
McGuire,
Michelle K., and Kathy A. Beerman. NUTR.
Belmont: Wadesworth, 2013. Print.
Photo:http://www.crayonbeats.com/2010/02/kc-ortizs-forced-rebellion-photography/
John Lenon: "Imagine"
John Lenon: "Imagine"
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This blog introduces the malnutrition of children in poor countries, specifically in Laos. The title gave me interest since I love children and it saddens me to know that there are so many out there who starve or are very sick. I was curious to what Kayee had to say about this major issue in the world and in the country where her family came from. I do not know many people who are Hmong. Therefore, I decided to write my comment as a part of increasing awareness about it as well as giving some feedback in my own opinions and reactions. A certain part of her blog where she talks about a solution to malnutrition and increasing education caught my attention. She says, “A genius way to provide countries like Laos with available nutrients is through associations like The Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RTF)”. I have never heard of it so it was interesting to see what this association does and how it can help mothers and children in poorer countries to decrease malnutrition. Although the unfamiliarity of the country caught my eye, an issue that I definitely care about is brought into light and I want to help raise awareness for it.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that lack of education is a big part of the ongoing malnutrition in the poorer countries and that the Plumpin’Nut sounds like it will help a bit. If a decent amount of money is put to use in countries like Laos every month instead of buying materialistic things or spending that can definitely put into second priority then we could make a change that will be on a roll. I like the idea of the association but it seems like it will not be enough still. It’s a good start though. I hope to see some kind of increase in providing food for these countries because the United States is a very rich country and could use more help from everyone. The image of the child is so sad and like I said earlier, I love children and my heart aches when they are suffering. Something that struck me was that the picture of the Hmong child is an emotional impact but there are already commercials about feeding starving children which can be sending a guilt trip for people who are watching. However it is so easily avoidable. I am hoping that people will not just turn away when something they aren’t comfortable seeing (especially if it is a global issue about preserving the life of a child) shows up. We take for granted the things we can just walk over to the fridge for. We take granted for the life we have. I want to fight for the health all over the world. Good hygiene and plenty of food should be equally and easily accessible. Perhaps in the future things might reach that goal. But for now, education and encouragement to help those in need from malnutrition should be focused on.
I thought Kayee’s blog post was beautifully written and very sincere as we clearly see her personal connection to the malnutrition in Laos as well as the overconsumption of foods in the United States. The section of the blog that I will be referring to is the paragraph on education. Kayee writes that with education we will be able to understand the proper food necessities that our body should be in-taking daily. With this education we can not only be aware of what our body needs but also we can help to stop malnutrition as well as overconsumption. She writes that malnutrition comes from more than just a lack of agriculture and resources. Even in the United States where we have most of the resources we need to maintain a healthy diet, people are uneducated in the knowledge of what a healthy diet is. She used herself as an example to show how what we may think is a healthy diet isn’t because by just limiting unhealthy foods is not the same as making sure we are eating the nutrients that we need on the daily. Overall, education is the answer to the majority of the problems in the world and this education can help benefit everyone in the world towards a healthy living style by knowing what the body needs. In the United States we are lucky to have access to education as well as to all types of foods however in the developing countries not only is there a lack of education in certain areas but also a lack of natural resources to provide for the healthy dietary needs. Her goal in public health is to continue helping and tackling the issue of health and she is going to do that by continuing her own education and helping to educate others.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kayee that we need to be more educated on what our body needs to prosper. By knowing what the body needs makes it easier to collect the proper ingredients. For many people, especially in the United States, convenience and simplicity are two favored things. If we know what we need, and its easy to get, then we will do it. However if we are unaware and don’t go searching for what our body needs, then we just wont do it. Being educated and having our bodies be as healthy as possible will increase the overall lifespan as well as decrease the chances of diseases. If people are able to acquire the proper food necessities then they will feel much better and be able to live a much better life. The first step is education, once there is proper education in the dietary needs aspect of life, then we can go about acquiring those certain nutritious foods. Kayee says that there is still a lot to be done in aid towards limiting malnutrition and overconsumption but she is happy about taking the time to helping the world in tackling this issue of health.
Megan Macoubray
In this blog entry Kayee Xiong discussed issue and solutions that can be used to solve malnutrition in the world. She used her personal Hmong heritage as her inspiration for writing about malnutrition. In Laos and many other countries, malnutrition is an ongoing issue that puts the health of both adults and children at risk. The lack of education is believed to be one of the key factors in the cause of malnutrition. If more individuals around the world were educated about malnutrition and the ways to help stop and prevent it as a whole, the number of malnourished people would drop. Kayee also explained how foods with many nutrients such as, Plumpy’Nut could be used as a solution for malnutrition. Products such as Plumpy’Nut will help children gain weight and receive enough nutrients that they need for the day. I think this is a very resourceful product that should definitely be used in order to help stop malnutrition. Mothers and children are the main individuals being really affected by malnutrition so they should be the ones who are prioritized when trying to resolve this issue of malnutrition.
ReplyDeleteI too think that educating communities affected by malnutrition is very important, but there is just so much that education can do. I think that providing more resources; food supply and aid for communities affected by malnutrition would really help solve this issue. If poor individuals affected by malnutrition were educated about this issue that does not mean that they will have enough money and resources to go out and get more food. If communities were supplied with products such as Plumpy’Nut lets say for a month, what would happen after that product is not supplied to the community anymore? Will the children be able to maintain their healthy weights or will they begin to drastically lose weight and approach malnutrition again? I believe that as much as we would like there to be a successful solution that will end malnutrition in this world forever, it is not possible. In order to really completely solve this issue, a lot of money would have to be continually used in order to create and supply resources for communities.
I think that the connection between her life and the issues discussed in this blog really made it very interesting and engaging for the reader. The connection between her parents migration from Laos and her Hmong background really interested me because similar to her my parents grew up in Indonesia and Malaysia and did not have much as well. My blog entry was actually about children in the streets of Indonesia so it touched on the similar idea of not taking the necessities we so easily access in our lives for granted. I also thought that Kayee’s connection to her nutrition class was very interesting because after she shared the recommended amount of food that an average person should eat only daily basis it made me realize that whether in the US or in countries like Laos that deal with malnutrition, not many people are eating the healthy amount of food in their daily diet.
Lilia Halimuddin
In this blog, Kayee talks about malnutrition, something that Americans are not familiar with, is an urgent issue in many countries around the world. A very good example of those countries is third world countries where poverty, war, and conflicts still happen every day. In the United States, we are spoiled with an abundance of food; we have a choice to choose what to eat, what is good for our health. But people over there don’t have a choice. They struggle to get food every day, leading to malnutrition. Malnutrition hurts many people in Asia and Africa, but one of its biggest victims is children. Because of how importance the issue is, we want to know the cause of it. Kayee states in the blog that the causes of malnutrition is political instability, poverty and/or inequality; biased and ineffective development policies; changes in the environment (including climate change); and lack of health care, and household food security. But what she really thinks is the most important cause of the issue is education. Because of the lack of education, people over there don’t understand the importance of nutrition and don’t create enough awareness and attention for their countries to reach out for resources. Education is very important for having a healthy diet, and it is what people over there need. She also mentions that limited resources are also a big cause of malnutrition. People in Laos and Hmong are very poor; they don’t have the opportunity to have a healthy diet. She mentions that there are ways for those people to receive additional resources through associations like The Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RTF) and Plumpy'Nut. Lastly she mentions that her goal is to confront the issue of malnutrition because of how it affects the well being of millions of people in Asia and Africa, especially people in Laos.
ReplyDeleteI think this blog is very thoughtful. As I stated, Americans are not aware of malnutrition as an issue, but it is a big problem in many developing countries. Stories about starvation kills hundreds of thousands of kids around the world is not something new to us. We just don’t pay enough attention to it simply because it is not our issue. I think this blog is a voice telling us we need to do something about it. I completely agree with her on the major causes of malnutrition. Education plays a big role in this, because if everyone is not aware of the damage malnutrion does to their children, the whole nation won’t see it as an important issue. And if there isn’t enough awareness in those countries, they won’t seek aid from the developed countries. I also agree with her that limited resources are also a major cause of the issue. Some people in developing countries are very poor. They don’t have money to buy food or they can’t grow enough food to sustain themselves. It explains why malnutrition is so popular in the third world countries but is almost unknown to the United States. But this issue can be solved if the leaders over there are willing to seek help from associations she mentions in the blog. Lastly, I support her goal of tackling malnutrition issue. Aid is not the most important thing those people need, but raising awareness is. I think that if the developed countries start to realize how serious this issue is, people around the world will join force to tackle the issue. We will soon find the solution for it.