Crime and violence overshadowing malnutrition in Guatemalan presidential campaign

"[M]alnutrition, one of the leading killers of children under five in the Central American nation [of Guatemala], is receiving scant attention on the campaign trail" ahead of the country's presidential elections scheduled for September, AlertNet reports. "Organized crime and rising drug-fuelled violence" are overshadowing many issues, according to the news service.

A lack of access to food, a lack of knowledge about breastfeeding and child nutrition, and a "lack of government funds to tackle malnutrition along with corruption also makes if difficult to reduce the number of people going hungry in Guatemala," AlertNet writes. Some "experts say the new government needs to make reducing malnutrition and poverty a state priority, which involves better coordination among different ministries and with international aid agencies," the news service adds (Moloney, 8/23). An AlertNet FactBox on the issue also is available (Moloney, 8/23).