According to a recently released UNICEF report, Tracking Progress on Child and Maternal Development, some 200 million children in the developing world currently suffer from stunted growth, due to chronic undernutrition.  Chronic undernutrition, is a factor in over a third of all deaths in children under five years-old.

This often unnoticed and often silent killer, preys on children most as time and again it rears its ugly head when it has become acute.  The unseen suffering in children who often appear healthy, can lease to serious and even permanent damage to a child’s health and development, or even death. undernutrition in early childhood puts children at greater risk for diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhea, diabetes and heart disease.

The report,  which profiles 24 countries where 80% of the world’s stunted children live, provides information on nutrition strategies, progress made by programs and current challenges, based on the most recent data available.   According to the report there is good news, and that is that we can reduce, or even eliminate undernutrition.   Significant progress has been with the delivery cost-effective solutions, including micronutrients, to vulnerable populations across the globe.  Such successful examples include; providing children with access to iodized salt and vitamin A supplements,which has helped reduce infant and child mortality.  According to UNICEF, in the world’s least developed countries, the percentage of children under five years receiving essential doses of vitamin A supplement has more than doubled, from 41 percent in 2000 to 88 percent in 2008.

“An important factor in almost all of these countries is the situation of women,” noted Schultink. “Women do not have enough decision-making power to either take care of themselves or of their children and, in general, are seen as lower-class citizens” (UNICEF).  Some of the reports noted observation recommendations to this affect include;

• There is a critical window of opportunity to prevent undernutrition – while a mother is pregnant and during a child’s fi rst two years of life – when proven nutrition interventions offer children the best chance to survive and reach optimal growth and development.
• Marked reductions in child undernutrition can be achieved through improvements in women’s nutrition before and during pregnancy, early and exclusive breastfeeding, and good-quality complementary feeding for infants and young children, with appropriate micronutrient interventions.
• Large-scale programmes – including the promotion, protection and support of exclusive breastfeeding, providing vitamins and minerals through fortifi ed foods and supplements, and community-based treatment of severe acute malnutrition – have been successful in many countries. Where such programming does not yet exist,
• Improving child and maternal nutrition is not only entirely feasible but also affordable and cost-effective.

The report highlights more than just the need for urgent action to save the lives of millions of children today, but the futures of millions of children and adults tomorrow, as undernutirition’s affects stretch well beyond childhood. Children who are undernurished are less likely to succeed in school and obtain a higher education, thus limiting their productivity and income as adults and increasing the likelihood that the cycle of poverty and undernutrition in children will continue for generations to come.