Approximately five million people are malnourished in Bolivia. It’s a menace which is crippling the nation. The section which is under constant threat is the pregnant women and the young children. Because it is this group that malnutrition hits the hardest. When it comes to children an overpowering 25 percent of children under the age of three are currently suffering from malnutrition. And this is most seen in the poor household.
Due to malnutrition the pregnant women are under the risk of having an underweight baby and also they are so anemic that they have the possibility of passing iron deficiency to the unborn child. When the child is born the family doesn’t have enough food to feed the child and the menace of malnutrition keep on growing further. Furthermore, due to malnutrition Bolivia is also facing the menace of infant, child and maternal mortality.
When the causes of malnutrition are ascertained, one factor which has been found responsible is the low wages of the populace. Due to low wages, 94 percent of the Bolivians in the rural vicinity are unable to fulfill their basic nutritional requirements. During 1998, 28percent of pregnant women suffered from anemia and 34.7 percent children under the age of three and 55.6 percent children under the age of five suffered from anemia. 9 out of 10 rural homes in Bolivia are unable to satisfy basic needs and a quarter of urban household do not earn sufficient income to afford the basic necessary food items. Also to add to the problem, Bolivians prefer a basic diet with a lower calorie intake. Last but not the least, health services and basic sanitation are very poor in Bolivia which is affecting the living standard of the populace.