Social determinants are the “condition in the places where people live, learn, work, and play in which affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes” (CDC 2018). Depending on where a person lives in the world, depends on what will impact their lives. Whether this be the culture they grew up in, the religion they were raised with, how developed or underdeveloped their country is/where they live and how accessible health care/fresh water/food is in their area. For Cambodia, one of the biggest social determinant’s issues for the country, is childhood malnutrition. It is one of the 28 worst countries in the world that has the highest rates for childhood malnutrition (Bargriansky, 2014). The biggest problem associated with childhood malnutrition in Cambodia, is that not enough people are informed of the long-term health problems. These long-term health problems include stunted growth, vision problems, diabetes, and heart disease. Malnutrition refers to getting too much or not enough of a certain nutrient or nutrients (Streit, 2018). For Cambodia, Undernutrition is very common in the poor areas of the country. This is due to having limited resources and accessibility, not having the money to buy food for the family, and many other factors. The common side effects for undernutrition are weight loss, loss of fat and muscle mass, hallow cheeks and sunken eyes, a swollen stomach, dry hair and skin, delayed wound healing, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, depression and anxiety. The most common deficiencies are Vitamin A, Zinc, Iron, and Iodine (Streit, 2018).
“In 2014, almost one-third (about 32%) of Cambodia children under 5 were stunted” (USAID). This is mainly attributed to inadequate infant and young child feeding practices. This is due to the mothers also being malnutritional, some anemic, and also due to the young ages of which women in Cambodia have children. Fortunately, Cambodia has recently created a campaign commitment to help solve this issue. It was established in 2014 and is called “Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. The goal of SUN is to “unite national leaders, civil society, bilateral and multilateral organizations, donors, businesses, and researchers in a collective effort to improve nutrition (USAID). In 2018, they also had 8 fully established and running programs that target the nutrition and ways of helping those who need it in Cambodia.
Ironically, while doing this research, MSU is actually a part of one of these programs. It isn’t specifically targeted at Cambodia, but it is a global effort in hopes to ‘Feed the Future’, The program is called Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development (BHEARD) and it is funded by USAID which is the website that gave reference to this program (I found this to be so cool and interesting!). The main goal of this program is to link scientific and higher education communities to feed the future priority countries and the United States.
I also found it almost disgusting how much food we throw away every year (I know I can be guilty of this at times). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year-approximately 1.3 billion tons- gets lost or is wasted. Think about how many people this could feed!! Globally, imagine if we cut this waste down and put the food to good use. Malnutrition would never be an issue!
“Key Facts on Food Loss and Waste You Should Know!” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, www.fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/.
“Cambodia: Nutrition Profile.” USAID From the American People, www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1864/Cambodia-Nutrition-Profile-Mar2018-508.pdf.
“About BHEARD.” Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development, www.canr.msu.edu/bheard/about_borlaug_higher_education_for_agricultural_research_and_development.
Streit, Lizzie. “Malnutrition: Definition, Symptoms and Treatment.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 10 Oct. 2018, www.healthline.com/nutrition/malnutrition.
Fujii, Tomoki. “Micro-Level Estimation Of Child Malnutrition Indicators And Its Application In Cambodia.” Policy Research Working Papers, elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/abs/10.1596/1813-9450-3662.
“Social Determinants of Health | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/socialdeterminants/index.htm.
Bagriansky, Jack, et al. “The Economic Consequences of Malnutrition in Cambodia, More Than 400 Million US Dollar Lost Annually.” Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, HEC Press, 8 Oct. 2014, www.airitilibrary.com/Publication/alDetailedMesh?docid=09647058-201303-PP201303130005-PP201303130005-1-16-0074.