1. Is there an echo of this problem in the Mexican society?
2. Are the Mexican politicians worried about this news?
3. Is this a big issue in the Mexican society?
Well, it seems it is more important to give more money to the Mexican governors now than to give money to the Mexican health..
What a shame!
Suman un millón 594 mil los casos
México, con más niños desnutridos en América
Se encuentra en el lugar número 22 entre las naciones con más menores de cinco años que padecen esta condicciones
México está en el top 25 de los 136 países con mayor población de niños menores de cinco años que sufren cortedad de talla, debido a la desnutrición materna e infantil crónica, según el ranking mundial del informe "Seguimiento de los progresos en la nutrición de los niños y las madres", publicado ayer por la Unicef.
Este problema de salud afecta a más de 200 millones de niños en el mundo, mientras que en el país suman un millón 594 mil los casos -cifra que lo pone a la cabeza en América-, con una prevalencia de 16 por ciento, es decir, que uno de cada seis niños mexicanos no recibe la alimentación adecuada para desarrollarse correctamente.
Según apuntó ayer en rueda de prensa la directora ejecutiva de Unicef, Ann M. Veneman, mientras presentaba los 24 países con más infantes desnutridos, "México es el único de la lista que no se encuentra en África y Asia", los dos continentes donde se concentra más de 90 por ciento de los niños y niñas que sufren retraso en su crecimiento. "En el país mexicano hay por tradición una falta de alimentación de nutrientes, lo que se transmite de padres a hijos", comentó la funcionaria.
Veneman también recordó que la carencia de una adecuada alimentación en los más pequeños provoca normalmente deficiencias físicas para toda la vida, además de "afectar la capacidad cognoscitiva", reduciendo la de aprendizaje y "las posibilidades de obtener ingresos decentes", con lo que se vincula la buena alimentación con el combate a la pobreza.
Además, según el documento, en México una de cada cinco embarazadas sufre de anemia, así como un tercio de los niños menores de dos años padecen del mismo mal. En cuanto a los bebés, 8 por ciento nace con bajo peso, más de 20 por ciento no recibe alimentación de pecho y cuando cumplen seis meses sólo 38 por ciento toman exclusivamente leche materna.
Sobre la pureza del agua que toman los mexicanos, el informe destaca que 91 por ciento de la población bebe el agua potable de la llave, 4 por ciento de fuentes no seguras y sólo 5 por ciento ingiere agua purificada con métodos mejorados.
En la población rural este problema es más grave, ya que 15 por ciento de la población en estas zonas bebe agua que no fue potabilizada bajo ningún método.
Aunque en cantidad de niños desnutridos México va a la cabeza dentro del continente, en proporción las cifras no son tan desalentadoras, ya ocupa el lugar 14 de América y el 97 en el mundo con una prevalencia de 16 por ciento de menores de cinco años desnutridos; no obstante, comparado con naciones similares, aún esta por debajo de Uruguay y Colombia, con 15 por ciento; Venezuela, 12; Argentina, 8%; Brasil, 7, y Chile, 1 por ciento. También está por debajo de países con economías muy inferiores como Cuba, Jamaica o Trinidad y Tobago, que tienen una prevalencia de desnutrición infantil que oscila entre 4 y 5 por ciento.
Los países con mayor prevalencia de retrasos en el crecimiento entre los menores de 5 años en el continente son Guatemala, con 54 por ciento; Perú, con 30; Honduras y Haití, ambos con 29 por ciento. Este mismo indicador en otras partes del mundo coloca a Afganistán como la nación con más porcentaje de niños desnutridos al alcanzar 59 por ciento, seguido de Yemen, con 58; Timor Oriental, 54; República Democrática del Congo, 46, y Corea del Norte, con una prevalencia de 45 por ciento.
La situación en Asia es considerablemente peor que en América, el primer país de la lista publicada por Unicef es India, con 60 millones 788 mil casos y con un porcentaje de prevalencia de 48 por ciento. Le sigue China, con 12 millones 685 mil casos y 15 por ciento de prevalencia (inferior a la proporción que hay en México), y Nigeria, con 10 millones 158 mil casos y una prevalencia de 41 por ciento.
Además de la cortedad de talla, otra consecuencia de la nutrición inadecuada es el peso inferior al normal, lo que también impacta en el desarrollo y la salud, según indicó la directora ejecutiva de Unicef, que a pesar de la gravedad de la situación, se mostró optimista al afirmar que "es posible reducir y eliminar la desnutrición", como se ha demostrado con programas que distribuyen sal yodada y suplementos de vitamina A.
Claves
El embarazo
• La leche materna es clave para una buena nutrición, según la Unicef, pero en México uno de cada cinco niños no se alimenta con ella al nacer.
- La anemia, padecimiento relativo al bajo contenido de nutrientes en la sangre, afecta a 21 por ciento de las mexicanas embarazadas.
- Uno logro contra la desnutrición en México fue aumentar el consumo de sal yodatada de las mujeres embarazadas, que subió de 28 a 91 por ciento.
México • Redacción, Milenio Diario, Tendencias, page 39By teh Jueves 12 de Noviembre de 2009
I think this situation is really difficult, it's kind of unbelievable that we are the only country in America with this kind of problem.
We need to change our habits, eating more vegetables and less chips and cookies would help. How many children prefer to buy cheetos instead of jicama? (just for giving an example) and if you ask one of them why they don't eat vegetables or fruits instead, they'll probably tell you're crazy. And that's kind of sad.
But we are not completely responsible for our bad eating habits, our parents are also. But I think it's time we break the cycle and start improving for our own sake.
Hi George I agree with you
what a shame is mexico nowadays
I thought that african countries were the first place and more sad is that our government is doing nothing to this problem.
The president and Senators should be making programs to solve this sooner as possible if not a lot of children will die in this conditions instead of discuss about their salaries.
hi george!!!
well this is sad!!!
i agree with the girl above me. our goverment should do something to solve this problem!
but there are many institutions that provide food to poor people!!!
so. we also can do something to help this children!!!
Well I think that if the government do not have enough money to solve this problem maybe the poeple that has the resources can cooperate and make donations so the poor people can eat and also instead of wasting our money in stupid things the government should use it to help people that is the idea of paying taxes but this is an immature country with low development, what else can we expect?
Hi George!!
the situation in Mexico with the children is something to worry about, because this kids are the future and if they have this problems with food, we aren´t going to have a healthy society! i think too that goverment have to do something about it! start campaigns to help not only children but everybody!!
Ok.. So..
In my very own opinion, this problem it's not only the government's guilty. I think this problem has it's roots, in part, in the education that we, as mexicans, have. Because for example, Have we wondered how old are the mothers of the children they mention above? If you start to think, the education in some poor zones that are the most affected, is that when girls reach certain age, for example 15 years old, the have to get married and then, as an obligation of marriage, have children. And what can a 15 year old girl can know about feeding a kid?
Another aspect that has influence in this, is the disequality in economy.
Let's just talk about Mexico City. Have you ever been in a zone in wich everything is very nice, i mean, streets, houses, cars, people, and then, you just walk 2 streets away and get into a zone in wich there is no street?! You are literaly walking on the ground.
This is something that should not be happening, because in the nice zone everybody is eating properly, while 2 streets away, people are begging for some food.
And whit what I said I'm not saying that the government it's wonderfull and we should not blame them because of the problems happening in our country. What I mean is that we don't need to be just saying: Oh! goverment in mexico suck, they don't do anything..
If we want to have a change, we should not be waiting for Goverment to do something, we should start ourselves.
Thank you for reading George! :)
What`s up george
What are u doing.?
well all this situation is telling us that Mexico is going from bad to worse & is very depressing to see that the places that the government allegedly established are now being used to business, but what we can do about that.?
I`m leaving, I have to sleep
See you tomorrow!
Pass auf dich auf...
that means take care in german hehe =)
Well I think that this is a very big problem, this nutrition problem will cause a lot of health problems and if we do not do something with this in the further years our country will be worse.
In my opinion the the families that cant afford the money to buy all the food that they need the government should help them and that would help this situation but all of us know that our precious government never do nothing to help people if they dont win something.
george!! i think also one of the reasons about this is that young mothers are like puting a trend by no feeding their children with their own milk, they just give them solutions and Nido!
And by the way... all young kids, adolescents eat junk foood! Mexico is also one of the most FAT countries!!!
In my opinion i think this is a serious problem.
The only way to put an end to this is to vote for the
person who really want to make a change in Mexico.
So next time you go vote you should think carefully before
voting, and choose a person who really cares about Mexico.
hi jorge!
Well first of this article suoer sad I did not say that I can not believe that after these problems in spite of our government do nothing, which is that politicians always deceive the nation and then not deliver what they say and this is the result of his actions, though it would be important to help and see that so that it can not go well
In my opinion, this is a very sad article and well, I think that the goverment has to do something to help Mexico, and of course, they should also put thierself in other´s shoes, so by that, they would know how do other´s feelings are. It´s not only the governors because those mothers, in my way of thinking and without offence, have the fault too because they should think about the children before they have them, i mean, they should know if they are able or not to mantain the baby and if the child will be happy or not in this world... but well, I hope this problem will be solved soon, I don´t know and I can´t say when, just hoping that will be as soon as posible and try to help as I can.
I think this is like it is because two or three points:
the big companies (i'm not comunist ok?) because they don't pay enough to the employees so they can buy good food or at least something to eat. (hail cuba)
90% of the world's money is in the hands of the 10% of population.
just an interesting fact: telmex is the 6th most expancive telephonic service.
thanks to our our "politicians" (i would rather call them money leechers) these let these companies do whatever they want, and even give them some support so they could "rise the nation", better said "rise that wool", and wool for themselves too, having 500+ diputados each one getting 200,000 pesos a month, not only that, there are several cargos publicos which they get about the same.
this is just the case of some not well feed that can afford a tv.
i know you have heard it somewhere else but it's true, have you seen all those tv commercials about coca-cola, sabritas or whatever, a kid doesen't feed all from chips, that's called lack of nutrition too.
now i saw in that article that cuba is mentioned, don't you dare to compare cuba with Mexico, they may be poor but the whole island knows how to read and write, while Mexico one of the richest countrys (9th) just the 78% of the population knows how to read and write and most of them doesen't knwo how to do it well.
The situation in Asia is tons of times worse than America but "problema de muchos= consuelo de tontos".
Now i have heard (not offitial though), that in some places in chiapas that there's no roads and the only way they can get something is by helicopter or horse, to make the problem worse, one of the little items that they get is COCA-COLA.
Now after all this "choro" i'll finally say my opinion.
IT SUCKS.
just forgot to say, the reforma made by FECAL (Felipe Calderon) rised the taxes 2% "so poor people would live allright", wait wait a minute you $%#$"#$%&, that isn't enough, they may not die of hunger but LIVING ALL RIGHT? the only way to make some people could have a better situation is rising the "salario minimo" (i would call that limosna minima) and making the companys not to rise they'r prices after this.
Now how much would i rise the limosna minima? about 1000% (ten times more),
it sounds crazy but tell me what you can do with 50 pesos? maybe buy a macdonalds and have all the fat you need for the rest of the year XD
ugh my other comment didn't appeared (because it was a long comment i will resume it)
bassically it talks about the salarys of the goberment (just multiply 200,000 pesos by 500+ diputados* 12 months that the year haves)
The abuse of the companys (90% of the wolrld's money is owned by the 10% of population), telmex is the 6th most expancive telephonic service, and they'r salaries.
the media, that advertices food junk (obessity is a lack of nutrition too).
the places where just the coca-cola arrives.
Asia may be a lot more bad than America but: "problema de muchos consuelo de tontos"
the education, "Mexico where the schools sell junk food"
the % of poor people living in mexico (80%)
don't dare to compare cuba with Mexico, the whole island of Cuba knows how to read and write, in Mexico just the 78% knows how to do that.
those illness doesen't heal with limosnas from the onu or unicef, they heal with the participation of a goberment which knows how to distribute the money.
Hi teacher
I´m really sorry to finally hear that Mexico is worse than many other african countries those who seem have been in poberty for such a long time and that we all feel sorry about.
But now we have to face tha problem in my house I drink water from a "garrafón" but my own nieghboors don´t they say it´s expensive and that they need to use it for other things like paying thier son´s school.
I hope the senators do something I don´t like saying the president only because he is not the only one yet he is the one we always say it´s in fault.
Another thing is we could have more decition by demanding our right to be governed this way or the other adn they could give all the money they earn from their pay check.
I hope some day not far from now they´ll undersatnd.
Its really sad because the government has to do something like promoting the good habits to have a good feeding, also to put in course campaigns to be able to help people. well we have another problem for Mexico…
It is clear that it is not important this problem to the politicians because they habria of mattering? President you eat it(he,she) is going to import the village for him(her) and is something that even he(she) does not understand the people remain thrilled to that the president helps when you eat it(he,she) goes to do the alone one wants hacerce mas richly because of it there is so many poverty and to the poor they do them mas poor
hello teacher
I hope this very well apologize for my delay but I needed to write here.
well this situation is very alarming because the authorities do nothing, they know perfectly what is happening today with our world and yet nobody and citizens are struggling to make something better for children suffering from this situation, my opinion is that the authorities will join the citizens and try to do something better for our world forward starting with campaigns urging people to help people suffering from this.
I would like people to take up my mind about this and in turn to realize all they have and not take advantage
I read this article and i think that our situation is getting worst and worst, many people dont have enough money to buy food so that's the reason why there's a nutrition problem.
The government should do something but this goverment sucks, they dont really care about people that are suffering, if ypou gave them a lot of money they are worried about you, but if not they dont care.
We should make a campaign and help those kind of people by giving them beans,rice,eggs,etc, that's the only way that we could do something.