Abstract
The three underlying causes of malnutrition in children are inadequate food, inadequate health, and inadequate care. Of these three, inadequate care has been the feast investigated Actions to ensure adequate care of children include the protection of good caring practices in a society; support for mother and families to help them maintain good caring practices when these are threatened or otherwise difficult; and promotion of those caring practices likely to improve the nutrition and health of children. Three actions in favour of good care include service delivery, capacity-building, and empowerment. These can operate at different levels in society and may be interdependent. In this Colloquium, special attention was addressed to young children, and how care may influence their nutrition.