Opinion: Covid-19 has escalated malnutrition, creating today’s most pressing issue

_{By Rodrigo M. Submitted to Mr. Dinh’s English 9 Honors class as part of the Advocacy Essays 2021 Unit.}

There are many issues that have resulted from Covid-19. Covid-19 is a virus that originated in Wuhan, China. According to the FDA, the first case was reported on December 31st, 2019. Since then, the virus has become widespread, causing a pandemic. Communities have been impacted by the new norm, which includes social distancing and schools being closed. These new norms are deteriorating lives. An article by The Lancet expresses, “Some of the strategies to respond to COVID-19…are impacting food systems…forcing millions of families to rely on nutrient-poor alternatives.” “…more children are becoming malnourished due to the deteriorating quality of their diets, interruptions in nutrition and other essential services…” As can be seen, this pandemic has created a major issue for the youth all over the globe. The pressing issue being, malnourishment caused by unsustainable income and lack of access to proper nutrition. Malnourishment means poor nutrition that is caused by either getting too much, or not enough nutrients.

Malnutrition can lead to child growth development issues like wasting and being overweight. These issues cause even more issues. And what’s worse is that the number of children impacted throughout the globe by these difficulties is extreme. The article by the World Health Organization titled “Malnutrition” states, “The double burden of malnutrition consists of both undernutrition and overweight…Undernutrition manifests in four broad forms: wasting, stunting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies.” This shows that the main issue, malnutrition, is causing several issues for our youth which makes the problem significant.

In addition to this, statistics from the article titled “Policies & Plans to Address Dual Burden” published by Spring Nutrition informs readers that 155 million children worldwide are stunt (low height for age), 52 million are wasted (low weight for age), and 41 million children worldwide are overweight (high weight for age). The worldwide population is 7.8 billion, and 247million out of the population has a growth development disorder; this means that about 3.2% of the worldwide population has one of these issues; our school, CATS, has about 500 students, so therefore 3.2% of 500 is 16; 16 students at CATS could be in danger of these issues.

An article by the NCBI expands more on the effects of stunting by writing, “…stunting is associated with…productivity deficit of greater than 20%.” “…16% of the total repetition rate in primary education is highly associated with stunting in Ethiopia.” This suggests that malnutrition is preventing children to transcend into higher academic levels, and ability to live productively. Because the numbers of stunting, wasting, and being overweight caused by malnutrition are very high and have severe effects on performances, the issue is very pressing for the youth and should be solved with urgency.

Secondly, malnutrition is a cause of hospital trips, increases the duration of the stay, and consequently, the costs of the stay for the hospital’s increase. Instead of using the extra money for the lengthened hospital stays, the money could be used to fund the solution. The infographic by ASPEN titled “Malnutrition in Hospitalized Patients” states that patients who are malnourished increase their duration at hospitals by double the amount. In addition, the possibility of a fatality occurring for those that are malnourished increases by 1.5 to 5 times as much when compared to those that are well nourished. As a result, the hospital stays that involved malnourished patients accounted for $42 billion dollars of the hospital’s funds.

An article by Abbott puts this information into more understandable numbers. The article informs readers that by eating nutritious foods, about $4,000 can be saved from hospital stays per patient. So therefore, the personal cost out of those $42 billion is about $4,000; $4,000 that could go to good use are being wasted; $4,000 that could go to helping others are being wasted. This suggests that being malnourished can critically impact health which lengthens the healing process/recovery time, and moreover, it is an economic burden for health care facilities. If we want to decrease the amount of people who die and decrease the amount of people in hospitals right now (especially during Covid), then fighting malnutrition should be something to be concerned about. Instead of spending money on the hospital’s stays, the money should fund the solution which would prevent our people from going to the hospital in the first place, and eliminate the risk they run of getting infected by Covid-19 or other pathogens when at the hospital.

The solution to this issue is to provide more food banks, more food benefit programs for low income families, and make more food distribution services available for families and the younger people globally. If you are part of the fortunate families that have adequate amounts of food, consider donating to your local food banks. The article titled “A Crises Within A Crisis: Food Insecurity & Covid-19” published by the California Community Foundation in December of last year informs, ”…the LA Regional Food Bank reported an increase of 145% in food distributed as compared to last year…and LA County Department of Social Services reporting a 179% increase in applications for CalFresh, California’s safety net nutrition program.” This indicates that food banks are helping feed many based on the increased demand caused by Covid affecting food services and creating food insecurity.

A study published by the American Journal of Public Health mentioned in the article “Food Banks Play Role in Improving Food Security” by Feeding America shares, “…food banks can significantly improve food security and dietary intake for people served. After six months, study participants…had significant improvements in food security, fruit and vegetable intake…” This emphasizes that food distribution services are an effective method of treating malnourishment based on the fact that many people use it & it improves diets.  Where I live, near Fremont High School, there is a Grab-and-Go food center on 7676 San Pedro Street, and a large number of people including myself use it, so I know that food banks and food services have been aiding in the access of nutritious dense foods during these times.  

This current pandemic that we are facing has created multiple horrifying issues like malnutrition. This is an issue that has caused many children to suffer issues with their health and physical appearances, increases their vulnerability of staying in pathogenic and hazardous hospitals, which has a huge impact on our hospital’s budget, and can be solved using the additional money wasted on malnutrition related hospital stays. We can also solve this issue; you and I can put an end to this issue. By just donating food to our local food banks, we can help feed society. A food bank that is a nine minute drive away from Diego Rivera Learning Complex is the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank on, 1734 E 41st St, Los Angeles, CA 90058. Imagine helping others by performing such a small act. This small act can help children reach their health, intellectual, and physical zenith; this can also prevent the spread of Covid by eliminating the risk of them going to crowded health care facilities. Ultimately, a world with less people infected by Covid-19, viruses, and bacteria; a world with less losses occurring around us; a world with more children eating better and living life to the maximum. The change must commence now, and it begins with us.