Malnutrition jeopardises the present and the future of a population

6. The great efforts that are now being deployed have brought some benefits, but the fact remains that malnutrition is more widespread than hunger, and takes widely different forms. A person can be malnourished without being hungry. Yet the organism's physical, intellectual and social potential is impaired just the same(¹³). Malnutrition may be due to food quality, or a poorly balanced diet (by excess or the lack of). Often it is also due to not having enough to eat and becomes acute when there is a shortage of available food. Some call this de-nutrition or under-nutrition(¹⁴). Malnutrition encourages the dissemination of some infectious and endemic diseases and aggravates their consequences. Further, it increases mortality rates, particularly among children under five years of age.