There are a number of areas that I am passionate about in the field of nutrition, but the one that I am most passionate about is malnutrition in people. I came across a video in Facebook a few days ago that showed the living condition of a particular family in one of the underdeveloped countries. At first glance, I thought that the boy in the video was around the age of 2 to 3 years old. He was lying on the ground and he could not move because he was too weak. He was obviously malnourished. As I continued watching, I found out that the boy was actually 7 years old. That really surprised me because his body frame was so small! The boy did not even have the energy to bathe himself. His sister had to travel out of their village to get water for her brother so that she could bathe him.
The reason that I chose to pursue my studies in nutrition and dietetics is so that I could help people that were facing any problems with 
food intake or health issues. But after watching this video, something inside me really clicked—I realized that I still want to help people, but I have taken more interest in the condition of nutrition statuses in underdeveloped and some developed countries.
According to a journal article, malnutrition remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality particularly in under-five children in Nigeria. The factors responsible for malnutrition could be immediate, underlying or basic, acting either alone or together. It has been shown that children who are malnourished have poorer outcomes from other illnesses than well-nourished children. The results were pretty predictable, considering the fact they do not have access to the nutrients that they need. However, there are other factors that have to be considered in their case, such as low income, a rundown environment, etc. There are many more factors, but all of them are interconnected one way or another that contributes to the fact that most of the people living in Nigeria are considered malnourished.
There are multiple programs and organizations that help donate food to undeveloped countries, and even some developed countries as well. One of the many programs that I found is World Food Programme (WFP). WFP is one of the largest humanitarian agency that is fighting hunger worldwide. On average, WFP aims to bring food assistance to more than 80 million people in 75 countries.
As the United Nations front line agency in the fight against hunger, WFP is continually responding to emergencies. They save lives by getting food to the hungry fas
t.
Besides that, WFP also works to help prevent hunger in the future—they do this through programs that use food as a means to build assets, spread knowledge and nurture stronger, more dynamic communities. This helps communities become more food secure. They have also developed expertise in a range of areas including Food Security Analysis, Nutrition, Food Procurement and Logistics to ensure the best solutions for the world’s hungry.
I hope that I could be part of this program in the future, or any other program or organization that helps underdeveloped and some developed countries to overcome world hunger. I know that this problem can’t be solve in a day, but I do want to contribute to this cause, hoping that my actions could possible help the world someday.
Link to World Food Programme
Citation
Journal Article
Ocheke I, Thandi P. Malnutrition in acutely ill children at the paediatric emergency unit in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Nigerian Medical Journal. March 2015;56:113-117.