If you were to mention the word or phrase “Kwashiorkor” most everyone in this world would respond by giving you a puzzled look on their face, a muffled response and have no clue as to what you were referring to. In the Ga language it is literally known as “one who is physically displaced.” When you think of Santa Claus or old Saint Nick what images come to your mind? For most it is a jolly old man with a big, dominant, and a distended, round pot belly. Now with that image in your imagination put that same physical characteristic (round pot belly) on a small, young child, this is known as a disease called Kwashiorkor Disease. Though rare in the United States, it is very prominent in poor countries where there is extreme famine, low levels of education, and limited food supply ("Human nutrition in the developing world", n.d.). Presented before you will include the epidemiology, the disease process, and the treatment of this fascinating disease.
Epidemiology
Known as the most widespread and most common nutritional disease in major developing countries Kwashiorkor is a very serious condition. The condition of Kwashiorkor is a form of malnutrition where a young child is not getting the protein they need in their diet, yet at the same time they are getting enough calories. It usually affects children between the ages of one to three, but studies show it can develop at any age ("Human nutrition in the developing world", n.d.). While the disease is rarely seen here in the United States and developing countries, it is a very dominant disease and very wide spread in sub-suburban Africa, Southeast Asia and Central America ("Human nutrition in the developing world", n.d.). When this disease does present itself in the United Stat...
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... FRCPCH, J. E. (2013, May 9). Kwashiorkor.
Retrieved November 11, 2013, from https://online.epocrates.com/noFrame/showPage.do?method=diseases&MonographId=1022&ActiveSectionId=21
National Center for Biotechnology Information. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ Nutrition for Everyone: Basics: Protein | DNPAO | CDC. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/protein.html Trehan, I., Goldbach, H. S., & LaGrone, L. N. (2013). Antibiotics cut death rates in children with malnutrition. Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management, 20(7), 299. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1426367777?accountid=10008
Williams, C. D., & Lond, H. (1935). The Lancet. Kwashiorkor, 226(5855), 1151-1152. Retrieved from http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(00)94666-X/fulltext
According to USA Today, U.S. doctors are prescribing enough antibiotics to give to 4 out of 5 Americans every year, an alarming pace that suggests they are being excruciatingly overused. In fact, Dr. Aunna Pourang from MD states, “to give you an idea of how high the pressure is to prescribe antibiotics, I didn’t get a job once because during the interview I told the lead physician that I only prescribe antibiotic prescriptions when they are warranted.” The development and widespread obsession of antibiotics, or drugs that kill bacteria and thereby reduce infection, has helped billions of people live longer, healthier lives. Unfortunately, the more we rely on and abuse antibiotics, the more bacteria develop resistance to them, which makes treating infections that much more challenging and leads to the growth of drug-resistant strains of bacteria. Research from the Center of Disease Control found that two million people in the United States become infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria, while 23,000 people die from such infections each year. Americans often aren’t informed on the power of the human body and rush to assumptions when perfection isn’t present. In a nutshell, the obsession of antibiotics is quite deadly and needs to be addressed before it’s too
Antibiotic resistance is one of the most important issues facing health care today, with wide reaching future implications if abuse continues. In the United States alone, antibiotic resistance is responsible for over two million illnesses and 23,000 deaths per year. Providers need to be judicious in the disbursement of these life saving pharmacological agents, while being informative of why antibiotics are not always the answer (Talkington, Cairns, Dolen, & Mothershed, 2014). In the case listed below, several issues need to be addressed including perception, knowledge deficit, and the caregiver’s role. This paper will focus on whether a prescription for antibiotics is appropriate and other courses of action that may be taken instead.
World hunger is a very important epidemic because of the risks or implications it imposes on the rest of the world. Juveniles are the utmost apparent victims of under-nutrition. 2.6 million children die as a result of hunger-related causes each year. 66 million school-aged children go to classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone. One in four of the world's youth are kept from growing due to malnutrition. In developing countries the proportion can rise to one in three. A strong maternal-infant bond provided through psychosocial stimulation is essential for positive child development. The formation of this bond at the beginning of life is an essential step that sets the stage for cognitive,emotional, and social development later in life. Feeding and other care practices provide opportunities for psychosocial stimulation and help to establish a positive attachment between caregiver and child.(WHO) Under-nutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, such as measles,diarrhea and malaria. Asia has the largest number of hungry people (over 500 million) however S...
Nutritional anthropology applies the anthropological approach to nutritional disciplines by studying and understanding how the interactions of social and biological factors affect the nutritional status of individuals and populations. Dettwlyer conducted a medical anthropological research assessing the nutritional status of individuals living in a population in Mali, Africa. She defined it as to be a biocultural approach because the research did not only pertain to the biological system of the people but cultural dogmas, infant feeding practices, socio-economic status, political-ecological factors also contributed as much. Death rates and child malnutrition rates are very high in Mali, it being one of the poorest countries of the world. Therefore, Dettwlyer being a nutritional anthropologist extends her study to the children of Mali who are malnutritioned as a result of their birth in poor families; because their mothers have a low status in their prosperous extended family households; ethno-cultural tenets, etc.
Children suffer from the effects of starvation more quickly than adults do. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), malnutrition contributes to the deaths of more than 6 million children under age five each year. Typically, starving children develop a condition called protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). The two most common forms of PEM, marasmus and kwashiorkor, occur in all developing countries and are life-threatening conditions. Marasmus occurs when a child is weaned earlier than normal and receives foods low in nutrients.
Resistance arises from mutations that are not under the control of humans, but the evolution of bacteria has been sped along by the overexposure of antibiotics to both people and animals. The number of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria in an area is closely related to the frequency that antibiotics that are prescribed (Todar, 2012). Patients often unnecessarily demand antibiotics to treat common colds or simple illnesses that are not caused by bacteria. Instead, these infections are caused by viruses which, unlike bacteria, are unaffected by antibiotics. Incorrect diagnosis can also lead patients to using unnecessary antibiotics, which can sometimes be even more dangerous than otherwise left untreated. Besides the fact that antibiotics kill off beneficial bacteria in the intestines, misuse of antibiotics provides an opportunity ...
In conclusion, hunger is a constant, chronic pain distressing many children. Famished children should have become a thing of the past a long time ago. The thought may seem impossible, but the world produces enough food to feed everyone. In the world as a whole, per capita food availability has risen from about 2220 kcal/person/day in the early 1960s to 2790 kcal/person/day in 2006-08, while developing countries also recorded a leap (2015 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and
The most unprotected aim for hunger is kid that is why malnutrition impacts dramatically on children. Child, who are young and need a lot of vitamins and nutrition to grow up have to keep healthy and full of beneficial components diet (Gabriela Mistral 1948) . But for children who were born in country with high percentage of poverty, there are no choice in what to eat and not. Nutrition plays a big role in life of child an malnutrition may be the reason of diseases and can make a child be stunted. Children cannot move properly because of this they cannot find food for themselves. Lancet (2013) confirms that hunger causes 45% of deaths of children not older than 5 and 3 million of kids worldwide die for the reason of famine.
In the last decade, the number of prescriptions for antibiotics has increases. Even though, antibiotics are helpful, an excess amount of antibiotics can be dangerous. Quite often antibiotics are wrongly prescribed to cure viruses when they are meant to target bacteria. Antibiotics are a type of medicine that is prone to kill microorganisms, or bacteria. By examining the PBS documentary Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria and the article “U.S. government taps GlaxoSmithKline for New Antibiotics” by Ben Hirschler as well as a few other articles can help depict the problem that is of doctors prescribing antibiotics wrongly or excessively, which can led to becoming harmful to the body.
- Over 90% of rural peoples in Central Africa eat less than half of the recommended protein intake
Chronic food shortages are widespread, and malnutrition levels among young children are high. These statistics are slightly higher in rural as opposed to urban areas.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Medical science and pharmaceutical researchers need to vigorously investigate the many factors contributing to the decline in antibiotic efficacy which will then empower them to research and develop a new generation of antibiotic therapies. Aligned with this is the responsibility of each individual to manage their health and expectations with regard to treatment. For example, individuals could adopt better ways of maintaining their immune systems by means of a healthy diet and exercise.
What if there were no treatment for strep throat? Or pneumonia? Or sinus infections? It is hard to imagine life without medicine for these illnesses. But what if the antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections such as strep throat and pneumonia stopped working? What if the bacteria were stronger than the antibiotics? The threat of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections is an increasing concern for healthcare providers, and it is important to reduce the misuse and overuse of antibiotics to maintain control of bacterial diseases.
In order to prevent kwashiorkor from ever developing, it is important to make sure to follow the nutritional guidelines and have a balanced diet of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. Kwashiorkor can most simply be prevented by making sure that a child eats enough protein after they are weaned off of their mother’s milk (Rossouw 1989). Often times, in third world countries the children are weaned off their mother’s milk and then put onto a maize diet that does not offer adequate amounts of protein rich food. The Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) “for protein is 0.66 grams of protein/kg of body weight. The EAR for protein increases during pregnancy, breastfeeding, period of rapid growth, or recovery from serious illnesses, blood losses, and burns” (Schiff 2013). The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that 10 to 35 percent of a person’s daily caloric intake come from protein. Furthermore, in order to prevent kwashiorkor from developing, children ages 1-3 years need to have 5-20 percent of their energy from protein, children ages 4-18 years need 10-30 percent from protein, and adults need 10-35 percent protein. In other words, kwashiorkor is an avertible disease that can be prevented if infants and children are consuming at
In the rural areas, the children suffer from basic health problems and malnutrition. They suffer from diseases such as iron deficiency anemia and intestinal worms, due to the lack of nutrition from the food they eat and the poor hygiene conditions they live in.