Nutrition among older adults in Africa: the situation at the beginning of the millenium

Most Africans enter old age after a lifetime of poverty and deprivation, po or access to health care and a diet that is usually inadequate in quantity and quality. However, nutrition interventions in African countries are dire cted primarily toward infants and young children, as well as pregnant and l actating women. This situational analysis focuses on two key areas to ident ify priorities for future research and policy development: the nutritional status of older Africans and determinants of undernutrition. Based on the s cant evidence available, the prevalence of undernutrition is high in older African men (9.5-36.1%) and women (13.1-27%); however, in some urban areas there is evidence that older adults are experiencing the nutrition transiti on. Information on micronutrient status is sparse, yet it appears that anem ia related to suboptimal folate status is a particular problem. Important d eterminants of poor nutritional status in the elderly in the African contex t include inadequate household food security, war and famine, and the indir ect impact of HIV infection and AIDS. The rapidly increasing size of the ol der population, combined with their increased burden of care-giving respons ibilities and severe socioeconomic hardship, indicates an urgent need for i ncreased attention to this group, including applied research on nutrition p roblems and the development and evaluation of nutrition interventions.