CHILD MALNUTRITION AND ITS IMPACT ON THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS OF AGE

Abstract

In Ecuador, 1 in 4 boys and girls under the age of 5 suffers from chronic malnutrition. The situation is
more serious for indigenous children: 1 in 2 children suffers from it and 4 out of 10 have anemia.
Malnutrition affects the development of children, leaving scars for life. Children who suffer from
malnutrition, when they are adults, will have learning difficulties, which will have repercussions on the
social and economic development of the communities. With this research work, the nutritional
situation of the girls and boys from 3 to 5 years of the Parish GAD of Mariscal Sucre was diagnosed,based on the results, a guide on Infant feeding and nutrition is proposed for this Community. The
study for this research is qualitative, with a descriptive and interpretive case study. It is descriptive
because evidence on the current nutritional situation of the girls and boys of the Mariscal Sucre Parish
GAD will be recorded and presented. It was possible to diagnose the nutritional status of the children
so that the parents can improve their diet and foresee that the children are affected by some disease.
We guarantee the validity of this research with the rigor in the collection and organization of the
information, with the use of internationally recognized scales of assessment of nutrition levels and by
the use of the subject triangulation method that will allow us to contrast the points of view expressed
by the members of the community under study.