Brazil records highest rate of hospitalizations of babies due to malnutrition in 14 years

In 2021, Brazil registered the highest rate of hospitalizations of babies under one year old associated with malnutrition in 14 years. There were 113 hospitalizations for every 100,000 live births.

In total, 2,979 minors were hospitalized for this cause throughout 2021. For comparison purposes, it is as if, daily, eight babies were hospitalized for problems related to malnutrition.

In 2008, the rate was 102 hospitalizations for every 100,000 live births. The rate dropped and reached its lowest level in 2011, with 75 hospitalizations. A year later, the value rose again and remained so gradually until reaching the level observed last year.

The information is from Observa Infância, an initiative of Fiocruz (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz) with Unifase, with information collected from public databases. In addition to malnutrition, the survey considers hospitalizations caused by other nutritional deficiencies and sequelae that malnutrition leaves in babies.

Cristiano Boccolini, public health researcher at Fiocruz and coordinator of Observa Infância, lists some reasons for the increase in the index. One of them is the increase in food prices, which makes it difficult to maintain an adequate diet.

The decrease in family income and the growth of informal employment also contribute to greater financial difficulties. The scenario causes more serious rates of food insecurity and hunger.

For example, a survey by the Penssan Network (Brazilian Network for Research in Food and Nutrition Sovereignty and Security) has already concluded that hunger is around 1 in 3 Brazilian families with children up to ten years old.

Boccolini also cites the differences between the cash transfer programs Bolsa Família and Auxílio Brasil. In the first program, which was discontinued with the creation of Auxílio Brasil by the Bolsonaro government, children up to seven years old had to go, every six months, to a health unit to have a nutritional assessment.

With Auxílio Brasil, this obligation ended. “The monitoring of children’s nutritional status has decreased. So those cases of malnutrition that could be resolved in primary care are no longer identified and are reflected in hospital care”, explains Boccolini.

Data for 2022 was also collected, but the information is restricted until August 30. Even so, the numbers remain high – there have already been 2,115 hospitalizations of babies due to malnutrition.

Although the amount is lower than that recorded in 2021, the daily average exceeds that year, because the data only refer to the eighth month of this year. Until then, there were almost nine admissions every day in the current year.

Regional and racial inequalities

The research observed that the hospitalizations of minors maintain patterns of inequalities in access to health already seen in other studies.

One of them is in relation to the number of hospitalizations for each region of the country. In 2021, the Northeast recorded the highest average, with about 171 hospitalizations for every 100,000 births. The volume exceeds the national average and differs from the Southeast, a region with an index of 72.

Racial issues were also raised. Between January 2018 and August this year, 2 out of 3 babies hospitalized for malnutrition were black.

But there is still another problem: not all cases have race or color records. On average, in every 3 cases, 1 does not have this information. “The first thing that stands out is that we need to improve the data”, summarizes Boccolini.

Increase in hospitalizations, decrease in deaths

Although more babies have been hospitalized for malnutrition, this does not translate into deaths. The survey concluded that the country’s mortality rate from this cause in children under one year old is falling from 2008 to 2020, the last year for which information is available.

“If we have an increase in the hospitalization rate and a decrease in mortality, we can say that the SUS has improved its efficiency […] in preventing cases of severe malnutrition from evolving into an outcome such as death”, says Boccolini.

However, regional inequalities also prevail in relation to mortality. The North has a rate of 12 babies killed by malnutrition per 100,000 live births, the highest in the country. In the Midwest, this rate is about 1 in 100,000.

For the researcher, it is noteworthy that the North region has the highest mortality rate due to malnutrition in babies in Brazil, since it is the Northeast that registers the highest rate of hospitalizations.

The scenario could be a scenario of greater difficulty in accessing public health in the North. “While the rates of hospitalization for malnutrition in the Northeast are higher, the death rates are higher in the North. This may indicate the issue of access to the health service”, summarizes Boccolini.