Nutrition and child development

Abstract

Of the world's present population of nearly 4,400 million about 38% are children under the age of 15 years. On current average, l25 million children are added to the world each year. Only one-quarter of the world's child ren live in developed countries where there exists significant degrees of compliance with the Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1959. The 4th Principles of the Declaration in particular states inter alia that (a) The child shall be entitled to grow and develop in health through the provision of special care and protection to him and his mother both antenatally and after delivery. (b) The child shall have the right to adequate nutrition, housing, recreation and medical services. Both specialists and laymen alike agree that a qualitatively and quantitatively adequate dietary intake is of prime importance in man's life while in the child it is practically a prerequisite for optimal growth and development. Indeed, nutrition is the only omnipresent factor in matters of man's health and well-being.