The double burden of malnutrition: a threat for Peruvian childhood [La doble carga de la desnutrición: una amenaza para la niñez peruana]

Abstract

The process of nutritional transition in Peru is somewhat paradoxical: an alarming number of chronic malnutrition cases coexist with a high prevalence of overweight and obesity, as reported in several studies in recent years.1–3 Huicho et al.4 recently published Child health and nutrition in Peru within an antipoverty political agenda: a Countdown to 2015 country case study, where they stated that the success of Peru in reducing mortality in infants and children under 5 years old was achieved thanks to the strategies implemented by the government through social and health programmes aimed to tackle malnutrition, mainly in vulnerable populations.