Although in recent years there has been a noticeable improvement in the prevalence of malnutrition, it is still a serious issue in many developing countries. As of 2013, malnutrition affects on average 32.5% of the children younger than 5 in developing countries, which is about everyone out of three children. On a geographical scale, Asia holds the highest rate of malnutrition with a staggering 70%, while Africa has 26% and Latin America only 4%. According to the World Health Organization, acute malnutrition is defined by a very low weight for height (below -3z scores of the median WHO growth standards), by visible severe wasting, or by the presence of nutritional edema. .
While the direct causes of chronic child malnutrition are hard to pinpoint, the two most common causes are the lack of access to nutrients and a high disease exposure among the population at hand. Annually malnourishment causes 5 million infant/child deaths per year. In many cases, the lack of vital nutrients can start even before the child is born, if the mother to be is undernourished during the pregnancy. One out of six infants born to malnourished women have low birth weights. .
According to 2013 world hunger and poverty facts and statistics, "Undernutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, including measles and malaria. The estimated proportions of deaths in which undernutrition is an underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea (61%), malaria (57%), pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%) (Black 2003, Bryce 2005). Malnutrition can also be caused by diseases, such as the diseases that cause diarrhea, by reducing the body's ability to convert food into usable nutrients." These statistics help confirm that those suffering from malnutrition are more susceptible to diseases because their immune systems are severely compromised. With these causes in mind, it is also important to consider factors such as socioeconomic status, social development, poverty, cultural norms, political instability, and war, which can all contribute largely to the rate of malnutrition in a country.
