Nutrition Journals

Officially the Federative Republic of Brazil is the largest country in both South America and the Latin American region. It is the world's fifth-largest country, both by area and population.[11] Brazil is the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world, and the only one in the Americas. Features map and brief descriptions of the geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military and transnational issuesThe country of Brazil occupies roughly half of South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean.

Brazil covers a total area of 8,514,215 km2 (3,287,357 sq mi) which includes 8,456,510 km2 (3,265,080 sq mi) of land and 55,455 km2 (21,411 sq mi) of water. The highest point in Brazil is Pico da Neblina at 2,994 m (9,823 ft). Brazil is bordered by the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, and France(overseas department of France, French Guiana). Much of the climate is tropical, with the south being relatively temperate. The largest river in Brazil, and one of the longest in the world, is the Amazon. The rainforest that covers the Amazon Basin constitutes almost half of the rainforests on Earth.

Brazil has the world's seventh largest economy by nominal GDP, and the seventh largest by purchasing power parity. The Brazilian economy is characterized by moderately free markets and an inward-oriented economy. Brazil's economy is the largest of Latin America and the second largest in the Western Hemisphere.[16] From 2000 to 2012, Brazil was one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, with an average annual GDP growth rate of over 5%, with its economy in 2012 surpassing that of the United Kingdom, making Brazil the world's sixth largest economy. However, Brazil's economy growth has decelerated in 2013 and had almost no liquid growth throughout 2014, and the country's economy is expected to shrink by 4% in 2015.[1 Expenditures for research and development are current and capital expenditures (both public and private) on creative work undertaken systematically to increase knowledge, including knowledge of humanity, culture, and society, and the use of knowledge for new applications. R&D covers basic research, applied research, and experimental development. As in several other countries, Brazil is beginning to recognize the importance of the malnutrition problem and its implications for national development and is undertaking major efforts to develop a national nutrition program as part of its .1evelopment program. In November 1972, the (wvernment established the National Food ard Nutrition Institute (INAN), with the intent of providing a coordinating body at the national level with responsibility for formulating and overseeing a multi-sectoral plan to improve national nutritional status. INAN was one of the first such national bodies to be organized. 102 in response t_ requests from the Government for assistance to help develop nutrition programs, a reconnaissance mission from the Bank visited Brazil in February 1973, Subsequent Bank missions assisted INAN and other public agencies with project preparation. However, growing difficulties within INAN, which led in May 1974 to the removal of the institution's leadership and nearly its entire staff, seriously interrupted the pace of preparation and appraisal. After a new President of INAN took office in September 1974, preparation work resumed.

An appraisal mission visited Brazil in November 19749Malnutrition affects especially pre-school age children, reducing optimum physical and mental development and resistance to infectious diseases, and contributes to high infant mortality, which in Brazil is about 75 per 1,000 and in the Northeast officially reported at 137 per 1,000. This compares to 20 per 1,000 in North America. A study undertaken by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in 1973 reported that nutritional deficiency and immaturity (i.e., less than 2,500 grams of weight at birth, a problem usually related to the malnutrition of the mothers) were underlying or important associated causes of 60% of the infant mortality in Recife and an average of 39% in other Brazilian areas studied, compared to 32% in Mexico and Chile, 24% in Jamaica and 10% in North America. Of the survivors, eight spot surveys in the Northeast show that from 51% to 85% of the children studied are suffering from malnutrition, with more than one-fifth falling below 70% of the normal body weight for their age. Although, like infant mortality, malnutrition among the survivors is most serious in the Northeast, it is also prevalent in other parts of the country, especially the Southwest. In a study recently completed in Sao Paulo, for example, 30% of all the children showed anthropometric signs of malnutrition; 48% of the children from families with per capita incomes of under US$300 per year had such signs. Of a random sample of children under two years of age admitted to Sao Paulo hospitals, 73% were below normal for height and weight; 45% were below 70% of the norm. Even though no special studies have been undertaken in Brazil, it is reasonable to assume from studies elsewhere that the combined high degree of second- and third-degree malnutrition