Health Economics & Outcome Research: Open Access

Instigation on Nutrition, Health, and Economic Development

Indhu Sharma^{* *}Correspondence: Indhu Sharma, Department of Health Management and Sciences, India, Email:

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Opinion

Many people in less-developed countries are undernourished. Although some population groups face shortages of staple foods, like cereals, that are necessary for meeting energy needs, the quality of diets remains poor for a majority of the people. Typically, a poor-quality diet supplies insufficient portions of protein and micronutrients which include iron that are essential for diverse human functions. Where the environment is poor in iodine, consumption of iodated salt by pregnant women is vital for the normal development of the foetal brain. Furthermore, low intakes of fresh fruits and vegetables during certain seasons cause vitamin A, vitamin C, and other nutrient deficiencies, making individuals more liable to disease. Adequate intakes of such nutrients are essential for maintaining adult health and productivity over the life span; children’s development critically depends on the quality of diet that the household can afford. Nutrients including protein and iron are usually determined in excessive awareness in animal products, which might be relatively expensive and regularly beyond the budgets of the poorest households. Because of poor sanitation and unhygienic environments, infectious diseases often deplete the body’s stores of vital nutrients such as iron.

Many researches in developing nations have proven that poor nutritional status is associated with decreased productivity, even the on foot tempo of people are often suffering from iron-deficiency anaemia. The link among poor adult health status and child development has not, however, been explored sufficiently in the literature. For instance, parents in poor health may be forced to leave household tasks to children. Such duties lessen the quantity of time children spend on school-associated activities and learning. Because learning is a cumulative process, children with immoderate household duties are possibly to finish fewer years of education. The future supply of skilled labour is consequently possibly to be laid low with poor parental health. Because skilled labour is crucial for financial growth, it is vital to formulate complete policies to protect children’s cognitive development.

The aim of this comment is to draw policy implications from research modelling health and nutrition data from less-developed countries within a multidisciplinary framework. It's important to acknowledge that there's considerable variation in food intake among individuals within a country. This is especially true for the intake of meat and other energy-dense foods whose consumption has risen with household incomes. The health policies now need to tackle not only the traditional diseases of poverty but also chronic conditions caused by excessive food consumption and a sedentary lifestyle. Because the latter diseases afflict primarily the well-off groups who are likely to be better educated, a preventive approach via educational messages and counselling is appealing. Through contrast, public health policies are important to enhance the health status and productiveness of undernourished people. The significance of an educated labor force for economic development has been identified in the economics literature. Studies using information on the country level from rising economies which includes the ones in East Asia have reported positive associations between human capital and economic growth. However, it is essential to know the pathways through which educational levels are achieved by populations in different settings. An in depth knowledge of the inter relationships among nutrition, infection, and child development could be beneficial for allocation of resources. Thus, for instance, undernourished children are unlikely to fully benefit from the resources spent on the educational infrastructure. Although nutritionists and psychologists have emphasised the link between children’s nutritional status and cognitive development. The research has typically discovered a small number of children over a short time span. Because faculty dropout costs are excessive in many developing countries, without a mobilization of assets for enhancing children’s learning, a huge range of children are probably to remain functionally illiterate. For creating a well-trained labor force, therefore, it's essential to look at stages in children’s development and identify factors that can be influenced by public policies in a cost-effective way.