Malnutrition of children in the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea.

Natural disasters have caused extensive damage to crops and to infrastructure in the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK). The international community has responded by providing emergency food aid. To improve understanding of the magnitude of food deficiency in the DPRK. The World Food Programme (WFP) conducted a nutritional assessment survey in August 1997. The survey measured the height and weight of a total of 3984 children <7 y of age in 40 government-selected institutions. Additional information was obtained on institutional access to food and on the care, treatment and parental support of a subsample of severely malnourished and nonmalnourished children. The prevalence of acute malnutrition (wasting), based on weight-for-height Z-score < -2, varied from 0 to 32.7% among institutions, and the prevalence of chronic malnutrition (stunting), based on height-for-age < -2 Z-score varied from 0.6 to 74.1%. The findings from this survey indicate the presence of areas with severe acute or chronic malnutrition in the DPRK.