Abstract

LONGHI, Fernando; CORDERO, María Laura  and  CESANI, María Florencia. Malnutrición infantil en Río Chico (Tucumán, Argentina). Evolución y manifestaciones actuales en el contexto de la transición nutricional. Rev. Univ. geogr. [online]. 2022, vol.31, n.1, pp.1-3. ISSN 1852-4265.

Argentina is in an advanced stage of nutritional transition where overweight and obesity are gaining importance. However, in some regions of the country, especially in the province of Tucumán, undernutrition is still an unsolved problem and the coexistence of both extremes of malnutrition implies a health challenge. From theoretical and methodological perspectives from the fields of Geography, Biological Anthropology and Nutrition, this paper addresses children’s nutritional problems in the department of Río Chico (Tucuman, Argentina), a historical scenario of poverty. The objectives were: 1) to describe the morbi-mortality pattern of undernutrition and its comorbidities in children under 5 years of age during the period 1994-2014, and 2) to determine the current prevalence of malnutrition of deficit and excess in children aged 5 and 6 years. Two different methodological strategies were defined and included the analysis of secondary information sources (vital statistics on mortality, hospital discharges and births) and anthropometric data collected during 2018.The results showed that among children under 5 years, although mortality from infant undernutrition has decreased to minimum values, hospital discharge rates due to undernutrition are still significant. On the other hand, among children aged 5 and 6 years, overweight and obesity are highly prevalent.

Keywords : Undernutrition; Obesity; Childhood; Nutrition transition; Argentina.

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