The increase in stunting in children under the age of five is the most worrying. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes a stunted child as one whose height is two or more standard deviations below the WHO’s Child Growth Standards median - meaning a substantially lower than expected height for the child’s age.“It is a largely irreversible outcome of inadequate nutrition and repeated bouts of infection during the first 1000 days of a child’s life," the WHO says.
The potential impact casts a long shadow. Research suggests stunting deeply affects cognitive and physical development as well as health outcomes well into adulthood, potentially lowering lifetime earnings for the stunted.The rise in stunting rates are particularly worrying.