26th European Nutrition and Dietetics Conference

Nutrition in Developing Countries

In developing countries, malnutrition contributes to over 6 million child deaths each year. (55 percent of the 12 m deaths.) In the last two centuries, there has been a general improvement in the health of people worldwide that has been attributed largely to changes in nutrition, hygiene, and public health. At the beginning of the 19th century, the burden of morbidity and mortality from nutritional deficiency diseases such as pellagra, rickets, and vitamin A deficiency was relatively high in Europe, North America, and much of the rest of world. By the end of the 20th century, these diseases were largely eradicated from industrialized countries, but many of these diseases and their associated morbidity and mortality continue to be major problems in developing countries today.