Bogota, August 6 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Over one-third of Colombian children are seriously affected by malnutrition and problems related to poverty, a new study has found.  According to figures released by the government infancy program, from Zero to Forever, out of the 5.1 million children five years old and younger in the South American country, 56 percent live in conditions of poverty.

Some 35.5 percent of children are born weighing under 3 kilograms, less than half the weight recommended by the World Health Organization, putting them at risk of suffering chronic malnutrition.

It is under these conditions that from Zero to Forever launched the initiative “More for Infant Nutrition,” which will be developed throughout August, targeting education as a means to overcome poverty.

The aim is to bring the rate of malnutrition down to single digits by the end of the year, and according to Colombia’s first lady, Maria de Santos, to give the issue as much attention as economic growth. 

The situation itself is chronic, Semana magazine reports, with children from the La Guajira region particularly hard hit, having been abandoned by the state.

Last month, a United Nations reported claimed to have the formula to end chronic hunger as long as governments were willing to move away from “business as usual.”  The agency report said that much more investment in social protection needed to be made if hunger is to be eliminated.