Poverty and malnutrition: an analysis of the Fome Zero Programme under an epidemiological view

Abstract

The Fome Zero Program is one of the most important items of the current government agenda. Despite attracting enormous media attention and bearing relevant contents for public health professionals, very few have presented themselves for the debate. The objective of this article is to review the concepts of the Program in an epidemiological perspective, through the observation of the use of the concepts of poverty, hunger and malnutrition on biomedical literature. In addition, this article aims at identifying vulnerable populations according to age, literacy, and geographical variables, considering the distribution of mortality due to malnutrition. In addition, an analytical framework for studying the relationship between poverty and malnutrition is presented. In the studied literature, the words socioeconomic inequality and malnutrition are the most used terms to express the unfavourable condition in relation to socioeconomic and nutritional statuses. In relation to mortality due to malnutrition, a polarised age pattern is observed. North and Northeast regions present highest indicators for infants. Southeast and Southern regions present highest death indicators for those from 65 on. The States of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Pernambuco present highest concentrations of municipalities with high malnutrition mortality rates for elderly people. The polarized age pattern suggests two different conditions for malnutrition: deprived (infants) and neglected (elderly). The framework suggests that poverty is a distal variable among the determinants of malnutrition. The knowledge of this causal structure is important for the design of the abatement of effective policies for malnutrition within vulnerable populations.