Malnutrition of Children in the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea

Manuscript received 12 December 1997. Initial reviews completed 22 January 1998. Revision accepted 23 March 1998.

Judit Katona-Apte^*, and Ali Mokdad

^* World Food Programme, United Nations, Rome, Italy and  Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333

Natural disasters have caused extensive damage to crops and to infrastructure in the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK). The international community has responded by providing emergency food aid. To improve understanding of the magnitude of food deficiency in the DPRK. The World Food Programme (WFP) conducted a nutritional assessment survey in August 1997. The survey measured the height and weight of a total of 3984 children <7 y of age in 40 government-selected institutions. Additional information was obtained on institutional access to food and on the care, treatment and parental support of a subsample of severely malnourished and nonmalnourished children. The prevalence of acute malnutrition (wasting), based on weight-for-height Z-score < 2, varied from 0 to 32.7% among institutions, and the prevalence of chronic malnutrition (stunting), based on height-for-age < 2 Z-score varied from 0.6 to 74.1%. The findings from this survey indicate the presence of areas with severe acute or chronic malnutrition in the DPRK.

The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 128 No. 8 August 1998, pp. 1315-1319
Copyright ©1998 by the American Society for Nutritional Sciences

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. J. Hoffman and S.-K. Lee The Prevalence of Wasting, but Not Stunting, Has Improved in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea J. Nutr., March 1, 2005; 135(3): 452 - 456. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]