Contribution of Therapeutic Foods to the Nutritional Care of Malnourished Children in West Africa

Abstract

Undernutrition is the most common form of malnutrition in West Africa, particularly in countries in the Sahel region. It constitutes a major public health problem in Africa and in the world. Caused by deficiency of one or more nutrients, undernutrition remains a major concern around the world and especially in the West African region where it contributes to a high number of deaths in children under five. It denotes an insufficient supply of energy and nutrients to meet an individual's needs for good health. Moreover, there are more and more centers specialized in nutritional care to help solve the problem of undernutrition in children. Thenceforward, knowledge of the current situation will allow better actions to overcome this form of malnutrition which grieves many families in our African regions and particularly in West Africa. This review reports on the nutritional care of malnourished children in West Africa. To do this, scientific databases such as PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus and Google Scholar were used to extract publications on the nutritional care of malnourished children. The data are analyzed to assess the management of cases of undernutrition in West Africa. These results can serve as a basis for better care of malnourished children in countries with limited resources, including those in West Africa.