Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Member profile

Dr. Marisol Garzon

Organization: Instituto de Medicina Tropical
Country: Portugal
Field(s) of expertise:
I am working on:

I am a PhD stundent and I am working in Africa in malnutrition and environment enteropathy

This member contributed to:

    • Thank you very much  for you invitation to this open  discussion.

      I am a PhD student  from  Institute of Tropical Medicine and  Hygiene  and I have been  working  in malnutrition and environmental enteropathy in infants from São Tomé -Africa (STP). I  want to share two comments to the first question:

      About  undernutrition,  despite of  the overall picture  has improved , there is still a high percentage of children in mild forms of undernutrition ( -2Priya Bhagowalia, in Economics and Human Biology 9 (2011) 66–77).

      In a  previous study in preschool children from STP, the proportion of children  with mild forms was  almost twice over moderate and severe forms for underweight and  stunting. ( Abstract in: Special Issue: Abstracts of the8th European Congresso n Tropical Medicine and International Health. Tropical Medicine and International  Health. Volume 8 , Isusue supplemnet s1.  pages 1-250).

       onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tmi.2013.18.issue-s1/issuetoc.

      For these reasons , I think that mild forms of undernutrition should be included as an important  part of the  picture, that deserve a careful approach.

      Another comment  is  to consider  the "environmental enteropathy " into the vicious cycle of malnutrition, taking account that this pathology is the result of  poor environmental sanitation with ingestion of  water and food contaminated , multiple  enteric infections  which lead to inflammatory changes and  disarrangement of intestinal barrier and malabsorption. Thus, the sanitation authorities should be an important part of this framework.

      Best regards,

      Marisol Garzon.

      PhD student

      Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical-Lisboa.(IHTM)