200m children affected by undernourishment

Around 200 million children in developing countries are affecting by undernourishment.

That is according to a new Unicef report which says that even healthy-looking children could be at risk.

Ann Veneman, executive director of Unicef, explained that undernourishment leaves
Individuals make and potentially unable to fight of infections and illnesses that they otherwise would have been able to deal with.

She said: "Those who survive undernutrition often suffer poorer physical health throughout their lives, and damaged cognitive abilities that limit their capacity to learn and to earn a decent income. They become trapped in an intergenerational cycle of ill-health and poverty."

Ms Veneman added that more than one-third of child deaths from illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia may be preventable if undernourishment is eradicated.

Earlier this month, experts from the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research claimed that use of new diarrhoea treatment in Bangladesh is low despite high levels of awareness.

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