Malnutrition News and Research RSS Feed - Malnutrition News and Research

Malnutrition is a condition which occurs when there is a deficiency of certain vital nutrients in a person’s diet. The deficiency fails to meet the demands of the body leading to effects on the growth, physical health, mood, behaviour and other functions of the body. Malnutrition commonly affects children and the elderly.
Child marriage increases risk for maternal and infant mortality, study reveals

Child marriage increases risk for maternal and infant mortality, study reveals

Countries in which girls are commonly married before the age of 18 have significantly higher rates of maternal and infant mortality, report researchers in the current online issue of the journal Violence Against Women. [More]
New NTD Special Envoys to focus on eliminating NTD primarily on LAC region

New NTD Special Envoys to focus on eliminating NTD primarily on LAC region

Today, the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, a major initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, announced His Excellency, President Alvaro Arz- Irigoyen of Guatemala (1996-2000), His Excellency, President Ricardo Lagos Escobar of Chile (2000-2006) and former Pan American Health Organization Director Dr. Mirta Roses Periago as the organization's newest Neglected Tropical Disease Special Envoys. [More]
Agricultural biodiversity plays key role in food and nutritional security

Agricultural biodiversity plays key role in food and nutritional security

While over 1 billion people are overweight and obese around the world, an estimated 868 million are undernourished. This paradox is explored in a new book, Diversifying Food and Diets, co-edited by Professor Danny Hunter who is an Adjunct Lecturer in Botany and Plant Science at NUI Galway. [More]

Concerns rise over food insecurity in Africa's Sahel region

"Despite early indications the Sahel would not suffer pangs of hunger this year, experts now worry that food insecurity could be worse than in 2012 -- the year of the West Africa food crisis," Thomson Reuters Foundation reports. [More]
Parents tend to share more bacteria with their dogs than their children

Parents tend to share more bacteria with their dogs than their children

As much as dog owners love their children, they tend to share more of themselves, at least in terms of bacteria, with their canine cohorts rather than their kids. [More]

Millions of people in Sahel continue to need food assistance, Oxfam report says

"The humanitarian response to the 2012 food crisis in Africa's Sahel region was bigger and better than in previous emergencies, but millions of people still did not receive the assistance they needed and many remain vulnerable to hunger, Oxfam said in a report on Tuesday," AlertNet reports. [More]
U.N. nutrition report calls for increased action to address stunting in children

U.N. nutrition report calls for increased action to address stunting in children

"A United Nations nutrition report [.pdf] released [Monday] shows that progress has been made in recent years in addressing stunting in children, and calls for increased efforts to accelerate a response to a condition that affects some 165 million children across the world," the U.N. News Centre reports. [More]
Focus on early childhood critical to new development framework

Focus on early childhood critical to new development framework

"UNICEF's latest report [.pdf] on child nutrition, launched at the Dublin Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, Climate Justice hosted by the Mary Robinson Foundation and Irish Government, revealed that every year 2.3 million children under the age of five still die of malnutrition and 165 million children are stunted as a result of not receiving enough nutritious food within the first 1,000 days of life," British Member of Parliament Ivan Lewis, the shadow secretary of state for international development, writes in a Huffington Post U.K. "Politics" opinion piece. [More]
Rhythm starts RM-131 Phase 2 clinical trial for treatment of chronic constipation

Rhythm starts RM-131 Phase 2 clinical trial for treatment of chronic constipation

Rhythm announced today the initiation of an additional Phase 2 clinical trial for RM-131, the company's novel ghrelin agonist, for the treatment of chronic constipation. Ghrelin is a peptide hormone produced in the stomach that stimulates gastrointestinal motility. [More]

Cholera epidemic in Haiti expected to worsen with onset of rainy season, lack of funds

"Nearly 2.5 years after it began, Haiti's cholera epidemic is getting worse, not better, and efforts to treat the sick are desperately short of funds, say aid groups on the ground," The Lancet reports. [More]

New index measures political commitment of 45 developing countries to address hunger, malnutrition

The Guardian reports on "a new index measuring political commitment to tackling hunger and undernutrition in 45 developing countries." [More]
MKK4 gene could be a promising therapeutic target for liver disease, study reveals

MKK4 gene could be a promising therapeutic target for liver disease, study reveals

Chronic liver failure is a major health problem that causes about one million deaths around the world each year. A study published April 11th by Cell Press in the journal Cell reveals a new type of screen for identifying genes that promote liver repair in mouse models of both acute and chronic liver disease. [More]

Longer looks: Global obesity, health care cost transparency, a medical puzzle

Getting your appendix out can cost between $2,000 and $180,000. Hip replacements run from $10,000 to more than $100,000. Hospitals, we have also learned, frequently mark up the price of cotton swabs and routine X-rays by 300 or 400 percent, with most patients oblivious to the reason their health care bills are so large. [More]
GP clinics at hospitals: an interview with Dr Sharma, Monash University

GP clinics at hospitals: an interview with Dr Sharma, Monash University

Around 13 per cent of hospitals have a primary care unit within the emergency department and 6 per cent have a free standing primary care unit. [More]

Drought, flooding in Haiti leading to increase in malnutrition, U.N. report says

"A growing number of people in Haiti do not have enough to eat, according to the United Nations relief wing, mostly as a result of drought and the impact of recent tropical storms," the U.N. News Centre reports (4/3). [More]

U.N. forced to delay urgent food aid to Guinea Bissau due to lack of donor support

"The United Nations said Tuesday that it had been forced to delay desperately needed food aid to nearly 300,000 people in Guinea Bissau since it so far had received no donations to support the operation," Agence France-Presse reports. [More]
Novel sensor improves success rate in diagnosing dysphagia

Novel sensor improves success rate in diagnosing dysphagia

Those suffering from swallowing difficulties, especially stroke patients, could be evaluated more efficiently and noninvasively thanks to research under way at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Toronto. [More]

International community observes World Water Day

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson on Thursday "launched a call for urgent action to end the crisis of 2.5 billion people without basic sanitation, and to change a situation in which more people worldwide have mobile phones than toilets," the U.N. News Centre reports (3/21). [More]

International support rising for adopting universal water security

Amid changing weather and water patterns worldwide and forecasts of more severe transformations to come, calls have been growing for the UN Security Council to include water issues on its agenda. [More]

Johns Hopkins undergraduates develop Cooling Cure to protect newborn from brain damage

When babies are deprived of oxygen before birth, brain damage and disorders such as cerebral palsy can occur. Extended cooling can prevent brain injuries, but this treatment is not always available in developing nations where advanced medical care is scarce. [More]