Latin  America, 8.8 Million Malnourished Kids
Chronic undernourishment affects more than eight million children under five years old in Latin America and the Caribbean, revealed a UN study released in Mexico Friday.

The figure represents 16 percent of that population, and the study confirmed the situation becomes particularly difficult in Central American and Andean countries.

In the case of Guatemala, 46 percent of children under five were reported undernourished in 1995-2002, a figure surpassing averages for Asia and Africa.

This indicator reached 29 percent of that population group in Honduras and it one similar in the Andean nations Ecuador (27), Bolivia (26) and Peru (25).

Experts Rodrigo Martinez and Andres Fernandez from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean attributed the current malnourishment situation to social inequality and the abject poverty affecting the peoples.

Undernourishment, leaving negative effects on health, education and productivity, becomes one of the main paths to transmit poverty and inequality generationally, the study stressed.

In addition, it inhibits cognitive development, affects health and increases the risk of death in children under five years old.