Malnutrition among Bangladeshi elderly:Determinants and Consequences

In low-income countries, such as Bangladesh, elderly health care is uninformed and undeveloped due to inadequate data on health, disabilities and social conditions of elderly people. In Bangladesh, research and public health activities have so far largely focused on nutritional aspects related to children and women in reproductive age. Importantly, by 2020 with a projected 14 million elderly people, Bangladesh will be one of the 10 nations in the world with the largest elderly population. This book will enable us to inform about the magnitude of the prevalence of malnutrition among the rural elderly population, which is important to address ‘who’ are the malnourished to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger - the first of the 8 stated goals by the United Nations to meet the MDGs. It will also provide what are the determinants of malnutrition and will also explain how disease and non-disease related factors contribute differently on malnutrition, which is very important in context of poverty. It will also be useful in understanding how functional ability in an aged population is effected by ill health and malnutrition.