Stunted growth; Manifestation of malnutrition in early childhood
Stunted growth, ― a reduced growth rate in human development, ― is a primary manifestation of malnutrition in early childhood, including malnutrition during foetal development which is brought on by a malnourished mother.
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On the other hand, malnutrition is the condition that results from eating a diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess (too high an intake), or in the wrong proportions.
In most of the world, malnutrition― which is present in the form of under-nutrition― is caused by a diet lacking adequate calories and proteins, or not enough and of poor quality food, and is an important concern in women, children and the elderly.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported hunger and related malnutrition as the greatest single threat to the world's public health, with the latest United Nations (UN) estimates indicating that 165 million children under five years of age, or 26 per cent of the world’s children, were stunted in 2011, with over 90 per cent of them living in Africa and Asia, where 36 per cent and 27 per cent of children, respectively, are affected.
The Ghana Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, 2011, indicates that almost one in seven children under the age of five is moderately or severely underweight and three per cent is classified as severely underweight. The results also reveal that nearly one in every four children is moderately or severely stunted and seven per cent is stunted.
Once established, stunting and its effects become permanent that is to say that the damage that stunting causes to a child’s development is irreversible. In other words, stunted children never regain the height lost as a result of stunting and most children will also never regain the corresponding body weight.
Stunted growth also leads to premature death later in life because vital organs were never fully developed during childhood.
According to a new United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Report, one in four children below five years of age suffers from chronic under-nutrition ― with devastating long-term consequences both for them and for the economic well-being of their communities― while one third of all deaths of children below the age of five is attributable to under-nutrition.
During a recent visit to Guatemala, UNICEF Executive Director, Anthony Lake, noted that without good nutrition, one could never have healthy children and healthy communities.
And, according to a 2007 study, on average, a child who is stunted runs the risk of earning nearly a quarter less income in adulthood than if she or he had been well-nourished.
Stunting can, however, be prevented while cure is not expensive, but requires critical timing, according to the UNICEF Report.
The report indicates that if it is to be prevented, stunting requires an intervention very early in life, before the baby leaves the womb― between pregnancy and the first two years. This is because the nutrition levels of mothers are directly tied to the nutrition of their children, making them vulnerable to malnutrition, even before birth.
It is important to note, however, that while due to pregnancies and breastfeeding women have additional nutrient requirements, good nutrition goes beyond the provision of nutritious food.
Thus mothers ought to be sensitised to the value of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months.
By G. D. Zaney/Ghana