Malnutrition is when a child is getting too little or even too much of the nutrients their bodies need to sustain themselves and grow.
Children in poverty are especially vulnerable to malnutrition.
Undernourished children suffer weakened immune systems and damage to their physical and cognitive development.
Many different challenges cause malnutrition, including poverty, natural disasters and conflict.
You can empower Compassion's church partners to vigilantly check children for signs of malnutrition and offer the nutritious food they need to grow and thrive.
What Is Child Malnutrition?
Malnutrition is when a child is getting too little or even too much of the nutrients their bodies need to sustain themselves and grow. It can look like any of these issues:
Macronutrient undernutrition: Children are getting so little food that they are underweight (meaning they weigh too little for their age), are suffering stunted growth (they haven’t been able to grow to a normal height for their age), or are suffering wasting (they weigh too little for their height).
Micronutrient undernutrition: This means that children are getting enough food but not the right foods; they still lack the vital vitamins and minerals their bodies need to function.
Overweight or obesity: This means children are eating more energy-dense foods than their bodies can use. However, children can be overweight and still lack some nutrients their bodies need. How? Often, in poorer communities, foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt are cheaper to buy, but whole foods with essential vitamins and minerals are too expensive for families to afford. This means it can be common for people in low-income communities to suffer from both undernutrition and obesity.
Diet-related diseases: Poor nutrition can lead to cardiovascular diseases, some cancers and diabetes later in life.
What Causes Child Malnutrition?
Malnutrition can be caused by a variety of factors. Some of the common causes of malnutrition in children include:
Poverty: Poverty and hunger are directly linked.Parents living in poverty often struggle to afford enough nutritious food for their families. Living on less than $3.00 a day, families often survive on one meal a day. Others may go a few days between meals. And even when food is available, it may not be the kind of healthy food required for a balance diet.
Food insecurity: Food insecurity is when people don’t have enough food or the right kind of food to live a healthy life. The world is facing a hunger crisis with 363 million people at risk of acute hunger, including children. Without enough food to go around, children can suffer from malnutrition.
Poor sanitation and hygiene: Some children, such as those living in poverty, don’t have access to safe water or spaces to care for their bodies, like bathrooms. Sadly, this increases the potential exposure to infections like diarrhea that can lead to wasting and malnutrition.
Natural disasters: Natural disasters like droughts can dry up critical food resources for entire regions. Earthquakes and tsunamis can destroy homes and the resources inside of them, leaving families without food — and fast.
War and conflict: Armed conflict can destroy critical infrastructure like roads, keeping food from reaching communities. And just like natural disasters, conflict can quickly destroy homes, taking a family’s food resources too.
How Does Malnutrition Affect a Child’s Development?
When children aren’t getting enough to eat, their bodies begin to break down tissues and stop normal functions. One of the most affected functions is the immune system, leaving children vulnerable to infections and diseases.
Sadly, children suffering from malnutrition are more likely to fall ill and even die. For example, nearly half of all deaths among children under 5 are related to undernutrition, and these occur mostly in low- and middle-income countries.
Malnutrition is especially dangerous in early childhood, when kids’ growing bodies need abundant nutrients to set the foundation for their physical and cognitive development.
Undernutrition delays mental development, affecting school performance and damaging kids’ intellectual abilities. This damage can affect them for life, limiting their opportunities and making it harder for them to provide for themselves as adults.
How Compassion Fights Child Malnutrition
Malnutrition threatens the lives and futures of millions of children, but there’s good news: We can do something about it. Simply providing the nutritious food children need changes everything.
That’s why at Compassion, one of our top priorities is ensuring children are getting the vital nutrition they need. Kids in our program have yearly medical checkups and are regularly monitored for signs of malnutrition.
If something is wrong at any of these regular checks, staff step in immediately, offering nourishing meals, supplements or therapeutic feeding — whatever these little ones need to get back on track for healthy growth.
Our local staff also work in areas facing food crises and hunger to help families build reliable food sources. For example, we train families on how to raise animals for food and income and even partner with organizations like ECHO to teach families sustainable farming methods.
Compassion is dedicated to showing children the love of Jesus by helping them grow up healthy. And that starts by providing the nutrition they need to thrive. You can help.
