Malnutrition is a poor condition of health caused by lack of food or lack of the right type of food. The World Health Organization has defined malnutrition as “the cellular imbalance between supply of nutrients and energy and the body’s demand for them to ensure proper growth, maintenance and specific body functions.”(Thuria Ghaleb). Some of the GCC countries are characterized by high rates of birth and the decrease in death rates of children less than five years.Malnutrition in most cases is usually caused by illness combined with insufficient food intake. Low food availability, sub standard health care, untreated drinking water and poor sanitation plans with inadequate infant and pre and postnatal care are the main causes of malnutrition. Majority of the people in the globe specifically in the rural areas do not have access to safe drinking water and most of them lack the access of good sanitation. This causes the widespread of the infectious diseases, for example cholera, dysentery and diarrhea, which in turn causes malnutrition. Malnutrition can be seen in children who are either undernourished or over nourished. Malnutrition can occur due to lack of a unit of vitamin in the diet, or as a result of a person not absorbing enough food. (Thuria Ghaleb sports health and lifestyle). The recent overwhelming rise in global food prices that begun in 2006 has sky rocketed and ever since, has left millions vulnerable to hunger and under nutrition particularly those in countries where food is a major concern. During food crisis, such as famine and droughts, pregnant women, lactating mothers and children below the age of five are among those who are at a risk of under nutrition owing to their higher nutrition requirement.
Since 1990, the estimated number of maternal deaths is over 500 000 and children under five is 9.2 million per year worldwide. The causes of death can greatly be attributed to inadequate nutrition, poor health mostly in undeveloped and developing countries like Yemen. Studies done in Yemen revealed that most children who were malnourished were from homes that were not economically well up. The study also showed that the highest numbers of children malnourished were not being breast fed properly and some had stopped before the age of one year. The millennium development goal 5: Universal access to reproductive health by 2015 summarizes the strategic plan for malnutrition control. It targets maternal health and infants’ health. Several organizations and governments came together in order to develop specific suggestions to support the implementation of the Global Strategy with its emphases on policy, health system, and community action to support optimal infant and young child feeding. The minimum infant and young children feeding practices include: Six months of exclusive breastfeeding, continued breastfeeding until the child is two years and more, adequate, safe and appropriate complementary foods and feeding starting after six months and related support for maternal health, nutrition and birth spacing. In May 2002, a Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding was developed through a two-year participatory process and was adopted by the World Health Organization and later endorsed by the UNICEF Executive Board. (UNICEF and the Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding (GSIYCF pdf))
In conclusion despite, these significant milestones in policy and programming, proper breast feeding and infant weaning remains a challenge in most of the developing countries and undeveloped countries.