Malnutrition

Definition of cooperatives:
They are commercial projects of a special kind that balance between two main goals: to meet the needs of members and to strive for profit and sustainability. Cooperatives can be registered cooperatives, producer organizations, self-help groups, producer consortia or associations, or agricultural rooms.

Cooperatives are found in all countries and in all sectors: agriculture, credit, food, finance, health care, insurance, and marketing. Estimates indicate that one billion people are under the banner of cooperatives in the world, creating about 100 million more jobs than multinational companies provide about 20 per cent, and this number includes members of cooperatives themselves, in addition to workers in companies that provide goods and services to these cooperatives.

These resources help them increase food production, market their products, and create new job opportunities. In this way, they can improve their livelihoods and increase food security in their local communities and in the world in general.
Research shows that small farmers working individually do not benefit much from higher food prices, while farmers who work collectively within strong producer organizations and cooperatives are more able to take advantage of market opportunities.

Members of cooperatives working in the fields of agriculture, forestry, fishing and livestock raising participate in production activities, profit sharing, cost savings, risk sharing and income generation. They also gain greater power to bargain in the market as buyers and sellers alike.

Another significant contribution that cooperatives and producer organizations make is their ability to help small farmers communicate their voices about their concerns and interests to stakeholders and ultimately increase their bargaining power and influence policy.

Cooperatives have been called (the business model with a social conscience), and World Food Day 2012 highlights the important role that cooperatives play in our contemporary world, and the significant contribution that agricultural cooperatives make to the global campaign to eradicate hunger, poverty and diseases related to ill nutrition.

Affected segments:

Infants under the age of two.
Children and teenagers.
Pregnant and lactating women.


Malnutrition:
Malnutrition takes three forms:

Improper feeding:

This term means not obtaining the appropriate amount of essential nutrients such as protein, calories, and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), so the body weakens and is characterized by frequent infection and diseases, and as a result of losing the right nutrition, many people are exposed to death as a result of common diseases such as measles or diarrhea.
Malnutrition is not measured by the amount of food eaten, but by physical measures of the body such as weight, height, age and laboratory analysis of blood.

malnutrition:

This term is used to describe the condition of people whose food does not contain enough calories (energy) to meet the minimum physiological needs necessary for an active life. There are now 1.02 billion people undernourished around the world, most of them from developing countries.

Unbalanced nutrition:

It is the nutrition in which certain types of nutrients are consumed more than others, such as carbohydrates or fats, and chronic diseases such as obesity and heart disease appear with it.


What are the effects of malnutrition?
Malnutrition causes a number of problems such as extreme thinness, very short stature compared to a person's age, lack of vitamins and minerals (such as iron deficiency that causes anemia), or weight gain (obesity).
The lack of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) is extremely important; Where nearly two billion people in the world suffer. In developing countries, iron deficiency, vitamin A and zinc are among the ten leading causes of death through disease, according to the World Health Organization.

Iron deficiency is the most common form of malnutrition. It affects billions of people around the world. It also affects state productivity and hinders cognitive development. Vitamin A deficiency is a major cause of blindness for children in developing countries. Millions of children are born with mental disabilities because their mothers do not have enough iodine during pregnancy. And a lack of zinc contributes to stopping growth and weakening immunity in young children, which leads to the death of hundreds of children every year.

Malnutrition at the local level:
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the largest food and food importing countries. Saudi society is also a consumer society, and many diseases related to the pattern and nutritional behavior of all individuals and groups of society have emerged indicating malnutrition, including chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure, cancer, dental cavities, thinness, anemia, and osteoporosis, As a result of bad eating habits such as: eating fatty foods, consuming saturated fats, fast food, ready-to-eat, and others.

The solutions:
The continued rise in prices of most of the basic commodities on which the family depends, we must think about radical solutions so that this rise does not affect the health of individuals, and thus the general health of families whose income does not keep pace with high prices, and this global crisis may be an opportunity to make good changes in the interest of our society Saudi Arabia, as nutritionists have always called for the need to improve the way of life and consumption, and the current situation is the best time to take advantage of this crisis to solve our health problems, and to make some positive points.