Backgrounder 3
MEDIA INFORMATION from
BAPEN the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
Registered Charity No.1023927
Issued Tuesday, 11 November 2003
BACKGROUNDER 3: WHY NOVEMBER 11TH?
It's not just coincidence that the 'MUST' Report and Tool are launched on November 11th, Armistice Day. On this day we pay tribute to and remember not only those who lost their lives in battle, but also those who died or suffered from the devastating effects of malnutrition. War has caused millions to suffer unnecessarily from the physical and physiological effects of poor nutrition. Through war, we have learnt a great deal about the nature of malnutrition and its damaging effects.
WAR AND MALNUTRITION: A LOOK THROUGH HISTORY
Siege of Leningrad
Also called the 900 day siege (actually 872 days - from Sept 8th 1942 to June 27th 1944), the Siege caused the deaths of at least one million people. Most of the men went to fight, but the women and children suffered from the many hardships associated with malnutrition. Those who survived have provided information on the long-term effects of malnutrition, which include hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Dutch famine 1944-1945
Mortality in Amsterdam in 1945 was 2.7 times higher in 1945 than in 1939, and it is likely that most of this increase was due to malnutrition. At the peak of the famine the daily rations varied between 400 and 800 kcals. Despite this famine children were conceived, who demonstrated abnormalities 50 years later (e.g. glucose intolerance). There is now strong support for the notion that malnutrition during pregnancy produces a programming effect on the offspring that results in ill health in adulthood.
Warsaw Ghetto
In the Warsaw ghetto, from 1940, 450,000 Jews were forced to live in very crowded conditions. Jewish physicians, dying of malnutrition along with so many others, buried their notebooks, which precisely described and documented the stages of hunger and subsequent starvation. Their study results were later smuggled out of the ghetto, and provide important information on the effects of malnutrition1. It is estimated that by the time deportations to extermination camps began in 1942, 100,000 had died of starvation and disease.
WAR AND MALNUTRITION TODAY
Today, we extend our remembrance to all those currently suffering from malnutrition throughout the world due to war.
The World Health Organisation estimates that 174 million children under-five in the developing world are malnourished as indicated by low weight for age, and 230 million are stunted. It is now recognized that 6.6 million out of 12.2 million deaths among children under-five - or 54% of young child mortality in developing countries - is associated with malnutrition2.
Civilians in countries throughout the world, including Angola, Afghanistan, Iraq, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sri Lanka, are suffering from malnutrition caused by war. The famine associated with the Cultural Revolution is estimated to have taken 30 million lives - perhaps the largest single disaster in recent history.
War causes malnutrition and exacerbates existing problems. Far more children die as a result of disease and malnutrition caused by war than from direct attack. It is a 'hidden killer' that causes problems not just for those suffering directly, but also to their descendants. Maternal malnutrition impairs pregnancy outcome, increases maternal mortality and retards early childhood development. This is a prime cause of infant mortality in developing countries.
BAPEN's mission is to prevent and alleviate suffering from malnutrition - the work of MAG implements this objective. In addition to the human suffering, the loss in human potential caused by malnutrition translates into social and economic costs that no country can afford.
Reference
1. Myron Winick (editor) Hunger Disease, Studies by the Jewish Physicians in the Warsaw Ghetto; New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1979
2. World Health Organisation Fact Sheet No. 119, (Reviewed) November 1996