Estado nutricional de crianças menores de dez anos residentes em invasão do "Movimento dos Sem-Terra", Porto Calvo, Alagoas Nutritional status of children ten years of age or under in a settlement organized by the "Landless Peasants' Movement" in Porto Calvo, Alagoas, Brazil

Abstract

Descreve-se o perfil nutricional de 357 crianças (1 a 10 anos) residentes na Fazenda Conceição, área invadida pelo "Movimento dos Sem-Terra" e recentemente desapropriada pelo INCRA para fins de reforma agrária. As prevalências de déficits nutricionais (Z This study describes the nutritional status of 357 children (0-10 years) living in Fazenda Conceição, an area occupied by the "Landless Peasants' Movement" and recently expropriated for land reform purposes by the Brazilian National Institute for Land Settlement and Agrarian Reform. The prevalence of nutritional deficits (Z < -2 standard deviations from the NCHS median anthropometric standard) relating to body- weight-for-age, height-for-age, and body-weight-for-height were the following, respectively: 19.6%, 39.8%, and 2%, thus higher than the figures published recently for the rural areas of the State of Alagoas as a whole (8.4%, 22.7%, and 1.3%). These findings suggest that children are these affected by dwarfism. Despite this condition being widely acknowledged as one of the most visible manifestations of malnutrtion in developing countries, it is important to stress that the concentration of land tenure, an integral part of the income-concentrating development model adopted by Brazil, is also a major factor in determining such a health profile. There is thus an urgent need for policy-makers to reallocate resources for immediate intervention in such farm communities, in order to reduce the dire consequences of a situation of this magnitude.

Keywords

• Avaliação Nutricional
• Antropometria
• Saúde Infantil
• Sociologia Rural
• Nutritional Evaluation
• Anthropometry
• Child Health
• Rural Sociology