Ecological factors underlying protein‐calorie malnutrition in an irrigated area of the Sudan

Abstract

A community survey was undertaken in 14 villages in the Gezira farming region of the Sudan to determine the causes of malnutrition which is prevalent in the area. Low expenditure on food, poor housing conditions and poor hygiene, were found to result from low income. While the ultimate goal should be improvement of income, quicker results will accrue from tackling the equally important dietary causes which result from ignorance about child feeding. In the Sudan, the. decline of breast feeding, the rise in bottle feeding, the lack of supplementary feeding and inequitable intra‐family distribution of food are particularly important causative factors. The low levels of immunisation against communicable diseases is a contributory factor which could be corrected immediately. Family size and birth rank were not important in the aetiology of malnutrition.