A Paradigm Shift in Social Vulnerability to Nutritional Diseases. A Perspective

Vulnerability to nutritional diseases has for a long time been associated with social factors like poverty; gender more particularly women, and ignorance. Malnutrition was viewed to be more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas. However, today there is a shift in vulnerability based on these social determinants. Overnutrition is becoming more prevalent than under nutrition, and the diseases associated with over nutrition poses great health, social and economic burdens. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the shift in social vulnerability to malnutrition. Kenya Demographic &Health Survey (2008-09) though I didn’t capture on obesity only <5yr malnutrition reported a higher prevalence of obesity in the urban areas (39%) compared to rural areas (20%) and those with higher education and wealth quintiles being the most affected. Women are a vulnerable group due to their physiological needs. Currently, because violence against men is prevalent, it may be necessary to view this group as vulnerable. Men who are battered by their wives may be denied food leading to reduced food intake; moreover the psychological stress they go through may affect their appetite and further exacerbate the condition. KDHS-2014 spousal violence for men- 24% There has been a lot of focus on the girl child owing to the fact that culture had made her vulnerable. This focus has been over emphasized creating a shift of vulnerability. This has been quite evident in the education sector where in some parts of Kenya the enrollment of boys is lower. Boys drop out of school and turn out to be alcoholics, this makes the boy child economically unproductive and therefore not able to afford food, this and the alcoholic state reduces food intake, food utilization and predisposes them to other non-communicable diseases. This review concludes that a paradigm shift exists in vulnerability to malnutrition which should be noted by policy and other stake holders. This should be consideredduring allocation of resources for research and intervention so that ultimately aa gap is not created.

Keywords: social vulnerability, nutrition, gender, poverty, education.