One-third of child stunting may be avoided

LONDON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- British researchers say 178 million children under age 5 are stunted, and most live in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southcentral Asia.

Simon Cousens of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, with four other authors, said 90 percent of stunted children live in 36 countries and make up 46 percent of the 348 million children in those countries. In addition, 19 million children are affected by severe acute malnutrition.

Improvements in nutrition in developed countries has shown that stature, living standards, reduced disease exposure and education are linked, and that almost all stunting is avoidable, the study authors said.

In addition to reducing stunting, nutrition interventions -- including breastfeeding promotion -- could prevent about one-quarter of child deaths in the 36 countries in which 90 percent of the world's stunted children live, Cousens said.

The study, published in the Lancet Maternal and Child Undernutrition Series, said although there are intergenerational effects of undernutrition which take many years to eliminate, promotion of breastfeeding, improved complementary feeding practices, interventions to improve micronutrient status and interventions to reduce the burden of child disease, can all have an immediate impact on child nutrition.

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