Assessing nutritional status and functional ability of older adults in developing countries

Overview

This paper reports on the findings of a five-year collaborative research programme between the Public Health Nutrition Unit (PHNU) of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and HelpAge International (HAI) that was conducted in India, Tanzania, and Malawi with the broad objective of providing simple and easy tools for assessing nutritional vulnerability among older people. Under-nutrition was found to be a serious problem among such people in developing countries, with a positive association between nutritional status and functional ability. These results were presented at a Symposium held at the LSHTM with a view to encouraging development agencies to pay greater attention to the conditions of older people.

This article is hosted by our co-publisher Taylor & Francis.