Stunted growth is caused by a lack of adequate nutrition and results in life-long health problems, from reduced IQ to greater susceptibility to diabetes and cancer. The good news is that the condition is easily preventable, but a lot of work remains if Indonesia is to achieve its target of bringing stunting down from Stunting is when a child fails to grow to the proper height for his or her age. The main cause is poor nutrition in pregnant women, babies and toddlers.
Few people in Indonesia lack sufficient calories, but low awareness of balanced nutrition means that meals are often heavy on rice, with little protein or vegetables. In some areas, lack of clean water for sanitation and personal hygiene as well as limited access to health services can exacerbate the problem.
Stunting has huge costs for the child and for the economy. Stunted children have weakened immune systems, are more susceptible to diseases like diabetes and cancer, and are likely to die earlier than non-stunted individuals.
Brain development is affected too, resulting in lower IQs and reduced income in adult life. Mothers need to follow a balanced diet before pregnancy starts to ensure that the proper nutrients are passed on to the fetus. You should also practice proper hygiene, including washing your hands with soap and water before preparing or eating food. Because odds ratios are not collapsible, they usually lack any interpretation either as the change in average odds or the average change in odds the average odds ratio.
Analyses were conducted using Stata Version 14 StataCorp Results from Table 1 showed that about two thirds The factors associated with optimal cognitive development were presented in Table 2. The geographical region and religiosity were significantly associated with optimal cognitive development. The children from mothers who had secondary and tertiary education, listened to radio, and watched television had increase optimal cognitive development, compared with children from non-educated mothers after adjusting for other covariates.
In this study, the magnitude of optimal cognitive development attained by the under-five children was approximately two thirds. Notably, we found significant adverse impacts of stunting on early childhood optimal cognitive development. This finding is consistent with the reports from previous studies [ 13 , 14 , 35 , 36 , 48 ]. The need for widespread intervention to target early childhood cognitive development for children with undernourishment is confirmed by the findings of this study [ 1 , 49 ].
Also, this study provides strong empirical evidence that food insecurity is linked to mental development consequences for children in Benin. Other confounders associated with childhood cognitive development include geographical region. Children whose mothers had secondary and higher education levels were found to have better cognitive development.
This is similar to the findings from previous studies [ 35 , 42 ]. Low educational level in parents limits their ability to promote good cognitive development in their children, which in turn leads to an inter-generational impact.
No doubt, stunted children had sub-optimal cognitive development compared with well-nourished children. A similar study from Nigeria reported stunting to be inversely associated with cognitive development [ 50 ]. The long-term implication is that cognitive skills provide the basis for later academic and employment success [ 3 , 51 ].
Another previous study reported that nutritional differences provided the strongest explanation for the test performance differences observed in a follow-up between the subjects exposed to different supplements. A prominent approach to prevent stunting in early childhood is exclusive breastfeeding [ 53 ]. The inter-connectivity between exclusive breastfeeding and stunting reduction and hence improved cognitive development could be the best explanation for an experimental study which showed an improvement in motor development with exclusive breastfeeding [ 54 ].
Specifically, nutritional status based on the height index for age has a significant and positive impacts on cognitive development of children [ 37 ]. Worst still, stunted children have multiple functional disadvantages that can persist throughout their lifetime. The poor cognitive development and educational level of stunted children could limit economic productivity, particularly in individual adults and the nation at large. The exact mechanism connecting stunting to sub-optimal mental development is yet to be known.
However, it is possible that the mechanism varies according to the nutrients that are lacking or that many assumed mechanisms could act differently or unanimously. A prominent assumption is that undernutrition causes poor motor development and consequently low activity levels.
More so, it could cause lack of interest in the environment and social interaction. Thus, children explore their environment less and fail to gain skills at the proper pace [ 56 ]. Inequalities in socioeconomic status such as maternal education could be another major explanation to childhood cognitive development.
When it comes to children knowing their right to survive or develop, the odds are stacked against the most disadvantaged. Such children would encounter diminished prospects of optimal development because the conditions of birth are grossly filled with inequities.
Unfortunately, this really is costly in the social, human, economic, and political world. Therefore, sustainable progress for children requires a focus on equity. Reaching the most marginalized children is of great importance and required to meet the goals on child health and well-being [ 57 ]. Undernutrition is rarely regarded as an emergency; the children affected are not facing famine and present very few or no obvious signs.
Undernutrition is more widespread than many people think with approximately one third of children been affected and hence reduces the productivity of the societies in general [ 15 ]. A major strength of this study is the use of nationally representative data set. The findings can also be used to make plausible generalizability.
Over the past decades, there was a dearth of appropriate tools with which to assess cognitive development in very young children and there were no globally accepted tests of early cognitive development. Interestingly, BDHS has provided a set of proxy composite items to measure childhood cognitive development. Another drawback in this study is the use of cross-section data which is not sufficient to establish causality.
Based on our findings, critical policy insights can be deduced. These insights will enable policy-makers and public health researchers to develop effective nutrition and education interventions that will involve community-adapted strategies targeted at improving the well-being and development of children. Social protection and poverty alleviation programmes such as child support and agricultural improvement schemes are also needed to improve food security. In addition, programmes targeting to address stunting should span across multiple ministries such as health, education, and welfare.
Growth monitoring surveillance will also have added advantage for child development. Strategies to avoid the loss of developmental potential in more than million children in the developing world. Nores M, Barnett WS Benefits of early childhood interventions across the world: Under investing in the very young.
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Arch Dis Child 85 3 — JAMA Pediatr 9 — J Pediatr 1 — Int J Epidemiol 41 6 — For example, the Scaling Up Nutrition SUN movement brings together more than organizations and 30 governments to help reduce malnutrition through educational campaigns, expanded nutrition programs, improved food production, and wider access to nutritious food.
The partnership provides resources and advocacy tools to inform leaders about the importance, impact, and cost-effectiveness of investing in nutrition. The good news is that stunting and other effects of malnutrition are preventable with key government investments, accurate information about maternal nutritional requirements, optimal child and family feeding practices, and sufficient care and hygiene.
Senegal experienced reductions in stunting among children under age 5 after launching a large-scale, community-based program that included expanding and improving nutrition-related social services as well as cooperating with the private sector to fortify food with micronutrients. Working together, governments, donors, partners, and international organizations must remain vigilant, building on lessons learned to strengthen and expand nutrition programs to enable more children to live healthy and productive lives.
Resource Library. Article Details Date October 11, Author Population Reference Bureau. Focus Area Children, Youth, and Families. School Achievement and Lifetime Earnings Reduced For a variety of reasons, stunting is associated with lower school achievement.
Combating Stunting Today, global efforts to combat malnutrition are on the upswing. Kristen Devlin is a program assistant at the Population Reference Bureau. Cesar Vitora et al. Vitora et al.
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