Original title: Childhood stunting: a global perspective
StuntingA child being shorter than expected for their age according to a growth standard. means a child is much shorter than expected for their age, based on a World Health Organization growth standard. But the problem is broader than children below that cutoff: growth can falter across a whole community. It often starts before birth and continues through the first two years of life. Measuring growth in routine health care can be difficult, especially when short stature is common. Preventing stunting must also avoid increasing overweight and obesity.
Imagine a whole class lining up by height, and nearly everyone is shorter than children their age elsewhere. It is hard to spot who is falling behind when the whole line looks short, and one glance may not reveal how each child has grown over time. In this paper, the class is a community of children, the height line is their growth, and regular measurement helps reveal problems that familiar surroundings can hide.
Stunting reflects both children's health and social inequality. It can signal serious risks to survival, physical growth, learning, and health in adulthood, yet may go unnoticed where short stature is common.
The abstract describes the scale, recognition, timing, and consequences of stunting, but does not specify which prevention strategies work best or how well particular interventions perform. It also does not detail the evidence behind the stated associations.
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Childhood stunting: a global perspective — Mercedes de Onís, Francesco Branca — Maternal and Child Nutrition — doi:10.1111/mcn.12231
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.