Child undernutrition in Brazil: the wound that never healed

Abstract Objective To describe the scenario of child undernutrition in Brazil and its determinants. Data source Narrative review of the literature with inclusion of data from population surveys, surveillance and monitoring systems, and active search in favelas and underserved communities carried out by CREN. Data synthesis Household surveys carried out from 1974 to 2019 indicate that undernutrition (<5 years) decreased until 2006. Underweight (W/A ≤-2 Z) and stunting (H/A ≤-2 Z) showed a decrease of 17% to 3% and 37% to 7%, respectively. After 2006, there was an increase in underweight of 53% and 76% for wasting (BMI/A ≤-2 Z), with the prevalence of stunting being stagnant at around 7%. Active search data in favelas and underserved communities show that the prevalence of stunting is 11% in those <5 years. In 2021, 30% of the population lived in poverty, 73% of which were black or brown. Stunting in black and brown children <5 years old is, respectively, 9% and 12% higher when compared to white children. Poverty decreased between 2012 and 2015 (27 to 25%), but increased again (2016=26% to 2021=30%), in parallel with food insecurity, which decreased between 2004 and 2013 (12% to 6%), but reached its worst level in the historical series (2022:15%). Conclusion Despite advances, Brazil's social protection system was not able to reduce inequalities and the reversal of the trend towards decreasing child undernutrition could be observed from 2006 onwards.

Violência em favelas e saúde / Violence in favelas and health

O tráfico de drogas tornou-se o principal fator para a crescente escalada da violência e um dos maiores obstáculos para o sucesso dos serviços públicos de saúde nas favelas. O Brasil ocupa o primeiro lugar no mundo como o país com mais anos de vida perdidos pela violência. As favelas brasileiras surgiram nas colinas do Rio de Janeiro no início do século XX e foram construídas por ex-escravos. Nas últimas décadas, a velocidade de seu crescimento se intensificou. Entre 2000 e 2010, o crescimento de favelas foi doze vezes maior que o aumento anual das famílias brasileiras. O número de pessoas vivendo nessas condições (61% afro-brasileiras) aumentou de 6,5 milhões em 2000 para mais de 14 milhões em 2010. São Paulo abriga 27% de todas as favelas no Brasil. Desde a década de 2000, essas comunidades foram ocupadas por trabalhadores pobres (65% com permissão de trabalho) que não têm renda suficiente para pagar o aluguel. Aproximadamente dois milhões de pessoas residem nas favelas de São Paulo. Esses territórios têm a maior prevalência de subnutrição entre as crianças causada por moradia insalubre e a maior prevalência de obesidade em adultos causada pelo consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados de baixo custo. A coexistência dessas duas doenças representa uma carga dupla para a intervenção na saúde e aumenta consideravelmente o custo de implementação de políticas públicas. Este artigo apresenta evidências de que a violência está aumentando os efeitos negativos da vizinhança nas favelas brasileiras, condição que implica intervenções mais complexas e específicas, direcionadas para esses territórios.

Drug trafficking has become the main factor in the escalation of violence and one of the greatest obstacles to the success of public health services in slums. Brazil ranks number one in the world as the country with the most years of life lost through violence. Brazilian slums emerged in the hills of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century and were built by former slaves. In the last decades, the speed of their growth has intensified. Between 2000 and 2010, the growth of slums was twelve times higher than the annual increase in Brazilian households. The number of people living in these conditions (61% Afro-Brazilians) increased from 6.5 million in 2000 to more than 14 million in 2010. São Paulo houses 27% of all the slums in Brazil. Since the 2000s, these communities have been occupied by poor workers (65% with work permits) who do not have a sufficient income to pay rent. Approximately 2 million people reside in the slums of São Paulo. These territories have the highest prevalence of malnutrition among children caused by unhealthy housing and the highest prevalence of adult obesity caused by the consumption of low-cost, ultraprocessed foods. The coexistence of these two diseases constitutes a double burden for health intervention and greatly increases the cost of implementing public policies. This article provides evidence that violence is increasing the negative neighborhood effects in Brazilian slums, a condition that implies more complex and targetet interventions in these territories.

A importância do tratamento em hospital-dia para a criança com subnutrição primária / The importance of treatment in day hospitals for children with primary malnutrition

Avaliou-se o impacto de fatores socioeconômicos, maternos, frequência ao tratamento e frequência de infecções, parasitoses e anemia no incremento de estatura para idade (E/I) em crianças (< 5 anos) submetidas a tratamento em hospital-dia no Centro de Recuperação e Educação Nutricional (n = 57). Doenças respiratórias superiores foram as mais frequentes com associação positiva com a gravidade da subnutrição (p = 0,035) e a idade na admissão (p = 0,001). Em análise de regressão múltipla a gravidade da subnutrição, o baixo nível de hemoglobina, menor renda familiar e frequência no serviço foram fatores preditivos (p < 0,05) para maior incremento de E/I. Os achados mostram a importância do tratamento em hospital-dia para o tratamento de crianças subnutridas.

Evolution of the nutritional support pattern in pediatric intensive care

Objectives: to evaluate patterns of usage and monitoring of nutritional support in a Pediatric ICU of a teaching hospital and the role of an education program in nutritional support given throughout the resident physician training. Design: in a historical cohort study, records from children who received nutritional support during the year 1992 were analyzed. Thereafter a continuing education program in Nutritional Support was conveyed to the residents. In a second phase of the study, the same parameters were reevaluated in children who received nutritional support throughout the year 1995. Setting: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of Department of Pediatrics, Escola Paulista de Medicina. Patients: all the children who were given nutritional support during a period of five days or more. Based on this criteria 37 children were selected for the first phase of this study, and 35 for the second one. Intervention: the education program included theoretical lectures about basic themes of nutritional support and journal article reading sessions. It was given to successive groups of residents on a weekly schedule. Measurements: Daily records fluid, protein, caloric and micronutrient supply, nutritional assessment and metabolic monitoring. Results: In the first phase of the study, an exclusively parenteral route was utilized for 80.5 percent, and a digestive route 19.5 percent of the time period. Nutritional assessment was performed on 3 children; no patient had the nutritional goals set. The nitrogen to nonprotein calories ratio and the vitamin supply were inadequate, whilst the supply of trace elements was adequate except for zinc. Nutritional monitoring was performed on almost all patients but without uniformity. In the second phase, the exclusive parenteral route was used for 69.7 percent and the digestive route for 30.3 percent of the time period; no significant increase in the use of the digestive route was detected. The nonprotein calories to nitrogen ratio and micronutrient supply were adequate. The frequency of nutritional assessment increased, but deficiency in nutritional monitoring and infrequent enteral feeding were still detected. Conclusion: There were deficiencies in the implementation of nutritional support, which were partially corrected in the second phase of the study by the training of the residents. Reinforcement of the education program, which should be applied to the whole medical staff, and the organization of a multidisciplinary team...