Functional classification of undernourished populations in Guatemala: description of the social, economical, environmental and nutritional characteristics of labourer's families residing in coffee plantations

Efforts have been made in Central American countries to define the nature and size of the nutrition problem with more regional and population specificity, to orient the selection of types, the size and geographical location of government programmes. This work describes the nutritional status, social, economical and environmental characteristics of agricultural labourers and their families residing on coffee plantations in Western Guatemala, and present an analysis of seasonal effects on children's growth. The results show very marked growth retardation in children 6 to 59 months. Socio-economic problems are related to the low level of the legal minimum wage and the lack of other income-generating activities for adults. Isolation limits their possi-bilities for making full use of government programmes in health, education and social security and other private services, such as open markets and lower price shops, available in nearby towns. Problems of quantity and quality of water, crowding, excreta and trash disposal and control of domestic animals contribute to the burden of infection with its final effects on nutritional and health status. The analyses of socio-economic variables, commonly used in cross-sectional surveys, and their relationship with various indexes of nutritional status show that most of them do not discriminate specific characteristics related to poorer nutritional status within the farms. Only differences in total family cash income, type of estate work of the head of the house-hold, and use of shoes by the head of the household are statis-tically significant, but the size of the differences are not of practical importance for planning purposes. It is concluded that, for action programmes, families residing in coffee plantations can be regarded as an homogeneous group. In the light of the present political, social and economic constraints in Guatemala, a series of action programmes are suggested to improve living conditions in these populations.