Malnutrition

Far from his Pasadena home, nutritionist Steven Kwon stood before Afghan government officials and agronomists in Kabul three years ago, extolling the virtues of protein-rich soybeans as a way to curb the rampant malnutrition in the war-torn nation. The tension rose as one skeptic asked whether soybeans would generate as much money as poppies that produce opium. "The way he asked the question was very cynical," said the 60-year-old Kwon.

At least 26 severely malnourished Haitian children have died in recent days, and aid groups fear many more will perish unless help comes quickly. At least 65 other severely malnourished children have been treated, said Max Cosci of Doctors Without Borders. Hunger contributed to deaths probably caused by diarrhea, fever and other conditions over a two-week period, but medical teams arrived too late to determine how each child died, Cosci said.

A female gray whale labored up the coast, the bony ridge of a shoulder blade protruding from what should be the smooth, plump roundness of healthy blubber. "That female looks a little skinny," said federal biologist Wayne Perryman, peering through his binoculars. "You can see her scapula sticking out. Yeah, she's a skinny girl."

Five months old and weighing less than 10 pounds, Shukri Mohammed stretched her tiny mouth to make a giant scream Tuesday when a health worker measured her limp arm for malnutrition. But scarcely a sound escaped from the baby's throat, and she sank back exhausted into her mother's arms. It's been a struggle since the day Shukri was born. The next morning, her mother walked three days to escape shelling in Mogadishu that had recently killed her husband.

Developing nations need to adopt simple, proven methods of preventing diarrhea and malnutrition, which kill an estimated 7 million children each year, delegates to an international congress said. Malnutrition is linked to nearly 60% of the deaths of children younger than 5, mostly in Asia and Africa. Diarrhea is responsible for an additional 20% of the deaths.

One in four Iraqi children suffers from chronic malnutrition, as poor security and poverty take their toll on the youngest generation, health and aid workers said Saturday. The situation is worse in remote rural areas, where as many as one in three children suffers from problems associated with poor diet, such as stunted growth and low weight, according to a recent government report that surveyed 22,050 households in 98 districts around the nation.

When a mystery illness swept through the African Union peacekeeping mission here, killing six soldiers and sickening dozens, doctors were stumped. With help from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they ruled out swine flu, tropical infection, rat-borne bacteria and even deliberate poisoning, as claimed by Somalia's insurgents. But the culprit, doctors fear, is just as alarming: beriberi, a vitamin-deficiency disorder typically seen only in famines. Simply put, African Union soldiers appear to have died from a form of malnutrition.

More than 150,000 people are surviving on donated food in the flood-battered city of Gonaives and the United Nations says more aid is needed to stave off famine in Haiti four months after ravaging storms. Haiti is already struggling with chronic malnutrition. The U.N. World Food Program is asking countries to donate $100 million for Haiti, saying current funding will last only through February. It requested the same last year but received only $68 million.

A man accused of allowing his 73-year-old mother to die of malnutrition and dehydration while he spent her pension checks has been charged with murder. Christopher Mukdsi, 50, of Flint Township, was arraigned Friday on felony murder and second-degree vulnerable adult abuse in the death of Katherine Mukdsi on June 3. Prosecutors said that the 5-foot-4 woman weighed 63 pounds when she died and that her son washed her body with an outdoor hose and dressed her in a clean nightgown before calling 911. Investigators said Christopher Mukdsi moved in with his mother after his father died in 2002 and was living off his mother's Social Security checks, her pension and a $300 monthly check she earned from investments.

Two million children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years suffer from acute malnutrition in Bangladesh, a U.N. study said. The survey said 58% of households in the country reported having insufficient food in 2008 because of higher prices. UNICEF representative Carel de Rooy called malnutrition a "silent emergency" in Bangladesh. "Even if the prices of food are now falling, the crisis is far from being over," said John Aylieff, a World Food Program official in Bangladesh.