Address for correspondence: Hélène F. Delisle, Ph.D., Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, PO Box 6128 Downtown Station, Montreal Que, Canada H3C 3J7. helene.delisle{at}umontreal.ca
Women are doubly vulnerable to malnutrition, because of their
high nutritional requirements for pregnancy and lactation and
also because of gender inequalities in poverty. Undernutrition
and overnutrition coexist in developing countries undergoing
rapid nutrition transition, and women are susceptible to this
double burden of "dysnutrition," often cumulating stunting or
micronutrient malnutrition with obesity or other nutrition-related
chronic diseases. The purpose of the present paper is to describe
the adverse impact of income and gender inequities on women's
nutritional health, and the dramatic consequences, not only
for women themselves, but for children, families, and societies.
Improving women's resources, including health, nutrition, education,
and decisional power, is critical for equity and for the health
of children and adults of future generations, since poor fetal
and infancy nutrition is another risk factor for chronic diseases,
in particular abdominal obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension,
and cardiovascular disease. Addressing malnutrition and nutrition-related
chronic diseases simultaneously is a challenge facing developing
countries, and examples of promising initiatives are provided.
Focusing on women along the lifecycle, according to the continuum
of care approach, is essential to achieving the Millennium Development
Goals and to breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty,
malnutrition, and ill-health.
