Malnutrition in the Americas: challenges and opportunities (Editorial)

Recent decades have witnessed major changes in nutritional status and trends at the global level. As we embark on the United Nations' Decade of Action on Nutrition, 50 million children under age 5 worldwide are suffering from wasting or acute malnutrition, 165 million children under 5 are stunted, and 273 million children ages 6 months to 5 years, along with 500 million women of childbearing age, are suffering from anemia. At the same time, some 41 million children under 5 are overweight (a nearly 60% increase since 1990), and 39% of adults over 18 are overweight or obese. Clearly, these numbers point to an urgent need to adapt policies and programs to more effectively address this double burden of disease. (1–5).