Poverty, child malnutrition and morbidity in urban area families from Gran La Plata, Buenos Aires.

A comparative study was carried out over two samples of 50 families each. Both groups belong to the low income social level from Gran La Plata. One of the groups was made up of families in which at least one child suffer malnutrition. The other group of families did not present children under malnutrition conditions. Differences sociodemographic, economic and environmental factors are identified. At the same time, a strong link between primary malnutrition and an increase in children morbidity and mortality was found. The results obtained demonstrate that the lack of programmes that these cases deserve, have a high social and economic cost, as malnutrition treatment demand a higher budget than its prevention.