Editing Human nutrition (section)

=== West and Central Africa ===
[[West Africa|West]] and [[Central Africa|Central]] Africa has the highest rate of children under five underweight in the world.<ref name="Progress for Children" /> Of the countries in this region, the Congo has the lowest rate at 14%, while the nations of [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Ghana]], [[Guinea]], [[Mali]], [[Nigeria]], [[Senegal]] and [[Togo]] are improving slowly.<ref name="Progress for Children" /> In [[Gambia]], rates decreased from 26% to 17% in four years, and their coverage of vitamin A supplementation reaches 91% of vulnerable populations.<ref name="Progress for Children" /> This region has the next highest proportion of wasted children, with 10% of the population under five not at optimal weight.<ref name="Progress for Children" /> Little improvement has been made between the years of 1990 and 2004 in reducing the rates of underweight children under five, whose rate stayed approximately the same.<ref name="Progress for Children" /> [[Sierra Leone]] has the highest child under five mortality rate in the world, due predominantly to its extreme infant mortality rate, at 238 deaths per 1000 live births.<ref name="Progress for Children" /> Other contributing factors include the high rate of low birthweight children (23%) and low levels of exclusive breast feeding (4%).<ref name="Progress for Children" /> Anemia is prevalent in these nations, with unacceptable rates of iron deficient anemia.<ref name="Progress for Children" /> The nutritional status of children is further indicated by its high (10%) rate of child wasting.<ref name="Progress for Children" /> Wasting is a significant problem in Sahelian countries&nbsp;– [[Burkina Faso]], [[Chad]], [[Mali]], [[Mauritania]] and [[Niger]]&nbsp;– where rates fall between 11% and 19% of under fives, affecting more than 1 million children.<ref name="Progress for Children" />

In [[Mali]], the [[International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics]] ([[ICRISAT]]) and the [[Aga Khan Foundation]] trained women's groups to make ''equinut'', a healthy and nutritional version of the traditional recipe ''di-dèguè'' (comprising peanut paste, honey and millet or rice flour). The aim was to boost nutrition and livelihoods by producing a product that women could make and sell, and which would be accepted by the local community because of its local heritage.<ref>[http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2013/04/Nourishing-Communities-Through-Holistic-Farming ''Nourishing communities through holistic farming''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006235945/https://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2013/04/Nourishing-Communities-Through-Holistic-Farming |date=6 October 2018 }}, Impatient optimists, [[Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation]]. 30 April 2013.</ref>