Reducing Malnutrition In Developing Countries
Undernourishment in early childhood is a serious issue. Especially in developing regions throughout Asia, Africa, and South America, children often don’t get enough high-quality, nutrient-dense food.
In this paper, the author claims that dairy products could help relieve malnutrition in those regions. They make several claims about the health benefits of dairy but emphasize that this paper is an economic, rather than a health-based analysis. As such, they attempt to analyze why dairy consumption remains low in many developing countries by identifying economic barriers and potential approaches to overcome them.
Animal advocates should take note that this paper is pro-dairy. For example, the author assumes that the prevalence of lactose intolerance in developing countries does not pose a major barrier, and they refer to increased dairy consumption in East and Southeast Asia as success stories. Bearing this in mind, the insights about why dairy consumption is low in certain regions may be helpful for those working to solve malnutrition and global hunger through a plant-based food system.
Currently, around 20-30% of children in South, East, and West Africa (with the exception of Kenya), and some countries in Southeast Asia, consume dairy regularly. The author examines several possible economic factors influencing dairy consumption among children in developing regions and found three of them particularly significant:
- Wealth: The relationship between wealth and dairy seems to be much stronger than with other animal products, suggesting that as wealth increases, dairy consumption rises. Because of this, the author believes there is a general demand for dairy in parents of young children.
- Price of fresh milk: Fresh milk is particularly expensive in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. However, this doesn’t explain why powdered milk products, which are generally cheaper, aren’t more popular in these regions.
- Piped water access: To benefit from powdered milk products, one needs clean water access. The author found that piped water access significantly correlated with dairy consumption, particularly in West and Central Africa and Latin America, where powdered milk consumption is relatively higher than in other countries. In other words, where water safety is a risk, consumers in developing regions may avoid powdered milk.
The author concludes by pointing towards successful initiatives to promote dairy consumption in Thailand and Vietnam, where pro-dairy advocates helped to bring about school feeding programs featuring dairy products and policy support for dairy farmers.
It’s clear that the author did not address many major concerns with using dairy to solve malnutrition. Both the health aspect in general, as well as the prevalence of lactose intolerance as a serious barrier, deserve considerably more attention. Furthermore, the author neglected to mention the environmental impact of dairy, which will especially affect people in the Global South, as well as the animal welfare issues around dairy farming.
Plant-based advocates should make note of why developing regions aren’t consuming dairy, as these barriers may also impact their ability to consume nutrient-dense plant-based alternatives. Furthermore, it’s important to consider that the dairy industry may use lobbying and school-based interventions to increase dairy consumption in developing regions — animal advocates can consider combating these initiatives with their own. Finally, those who work on global health should continue seeking feasible, animal-free, and environmentally friendly solutions to child malnutrition. This will enable us to create a more just food system for everyone.
https://doi.org/10.1093/af/vfac083