dc.description.abstract | Undernutrition is a major pubric health prgblem ·in Kenya. Among
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the"most important nutritional deficiency diseases are PEM, nutritional
anemiasjendemic goiter and vitamin A deficiency. Other common but less "\
" , " important are vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Other nutritional
problems discussed include long-term effe~ts of early childhood malrutrition
in growth and development, the problem of reference population;
mate~al and infant feeding practices; milk intolerance; and the relationship
of nutrition and infection. Priorities in nutrition research and
intervention programs for Kenya are presented while emphasizing the role
of multisectoral nutritional planning and implementation.
Agricultural and economic aspects of food supp,ly and demand; poverty
alleviation by appropriate income distribution are discussed briefly.
<, Other strategies to improve childhood nutrition include promotion of i
breast feeding, use.of locally available foods, curtailing of inappropriate
promotion an~ sale of infant foods, environmental clean-up and an
overall improvement in standards of living of the majority of the
people in the long term. Shprter-term activities include health and
nutrition education, supplementary feeding programs, treatment and
rehabilitation of severely malnourished children. Nutrition research is
recognized as one of the tools to provide invaluable data far planning
__and evaluation. | en_US |