Malnutrition does not only exist in Africa. In France, according to the Collective against Malnutrition (founded on October 18, 2016 by health professionals, patients and political figures), 2 million people have a body mass index much below average.
Of course, the heart of the problem is food: malnutrition can be caused by a reduction in food intake for various reasons (loss of appetite, anorexia nervosa, dental problems, etc.), by hypercatabolism, c i.e. an increase in the energy needs of the body (due to cancer, for example) and/or by malabsorption of nutrients (celiac disease, Crohn’s diseasepancreatitis, etc.).
15 to 30% of malnourished sick children in hospital
In France, this health problem mainly affects people who are hospitalized or placed in retirement homes. Elderly people also hold a sad record: in hospital, half of them suffer from malnutrition. Children (generally before the age of 3) are also affected.
The Collective for the fight against undernutrition has drawn up a manifesto with 10 proposals to put an end to this silent health problem: its members demand that undernutrition become “the great national cause of the next five-year term”, that a national plan of action be launched in 2018 to stop the progression of this disease and also prioritize sick children (15 to 30% of whom are malnourished in hospital) by demanding the creation of a National Vigilance Committee.
The Collective also suggests that all malnourished patients be weighed when checking in at the hospital until they return home, and calls for “the presence of a nutritionist doctor and 10 dietitians for 600 hospital beds”. as well as a “referent-undernutrition in all establishments”. The 10 proposals are the subject of a petition, posted on the Change.org website.
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