[Nutritional deficiencies affecting children of the Third World. The example of Ethiopia (author's transl)]

For the large non-privileged population groups in developing countries and diet shows many deficiencies, often with major disturbances of health as a consequence. This is particularly true for the children. The monotony and the bulkiness of the traditional diet, the often sparse number of meals as well as periodic deteriorations of the food situation ("hungry season") all contributes to make the nutritional situation precarious. The vicious circle between PEM and infections contribute in a major way to the high mortality rate among preschool children in developing countries. In this paper a review is given of different nutritional deficiency diseases affecting children in the Third World. The practical illustrations derive mainly from Ethiopia. During the period between 1962-1975 there has been lively cooperation in the field of nutritional research between Ethiopia and Sweden.