4th Report on The World Nutrition Situation: Nutrition Throughout the Life Cycle

United Na tions Ad min is tra tive Com mit tee on Co or di na tion in col labo ra tion with In ter na tional Food Pol icy Re search In sti tute (IFPRI) th Re port on Copy right © 2000 UN ACC SubCommittee on Nu tri tion ACC/SCN pub li ca tions may be re pro duced with out prior per mission , but please at trib ute to the ACC/SCN. The des ig na tions em ployed and the pres en ta tion of ma te rial in this pub li ca tion do not nec es sar ily im ply the ex pres sion of any opin ion what so ever on the part of the ACC/SCN or its UN mem ber agen cies con cern ing the le gal status of any coun try, ter-ri tory, city, or area of its authori ties, or con cern ing the de limi ta-tion of its fron tiers or bounda ries. In for ma tion on other ACC/SCN pub li ca tions, as well as ad di-tional cop ies of pa pers, can be ob tained from the ACC/SCN Sec re tar iat. En quir ies should be ad dressed to: ACC/SCN Sec re tar iat c/o World Health Or gani za tion 20 Ave nue Ap pia CH 1211 Ge neva 27 Swit zer land Sug gested ci ta tion form for this re port: ACC/SCN (2000) Fourth Re port on the World Nutrition Situa tion. Ge neva: ACC/SCN in col labo ra tion with IFPRI. iii FOREWORD T he Fourth Re port on the World Nu tri tion Situa tion is part of a se ries of ACC/SCN reports ini ti ated in the mid-1980s on the nu tri tional status of popu la tions in de vel op ing coun tries. These re ports pro vide im por tant in for ma tion for the many in di vidu als, in sti tu tions, gov ern ments, and non govern men tal or gani za tions work ing to ac cel er ate nu tri-tion ac tion. While ear lier re ports have fo cused on regional trends in pre school un der nu tri tion, this re port is built around the theme nu tri tion through out the life cy cle. This change was sig nalled, in part, by growing evi …