Of every ten children born in developing countries, one child
will die before his or her fi fth birthday. This extremely high
death toll — in total more than 10 million young children die in
developing countries each year — demonstrates the vulnerability
of infants and young children to poor nutrition and poor health.
The fact is, a large majority of child deaths in developing
countries are preventable with a combination of good care,
adequate nutrition and appropriate medical treatment. This
brings us hope that the unacceptably high childhood mortality
can be reduced with effective interventions, and is reflected by
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which include the call
to reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under
five years of age. The importance of adequate nutrition during
early life cannot be underestimated. Infants and young children
have high requirements of energy and nutrients due to rapid
growth and development. During the fi rst few years of life,
children are particularl