Malnutrition among adult hospitalized patients in Zululand during the drought of 1983.

Objective measurements of nutritional status were taken from 207 patients in the medical wards of four mission hospitals in different parts of Kwazulu. The incidence of malnutrition was significantly higher than that recently found among hospitalized urban Blacks, 93% of male and 72% of female patients having triceps skinfold thicknesses below 60% of normal. One-third of the patients were clinically marasmic, and of these 56% were suffering from acute infections and 38% had active tuberculosis. The results indicate the magnitude of the problem of malnutrition in Kwazulu hospitals, and suggest that the already high incidence of tuberculosis will be further exacerbated by the continuing drought.