Strategies to address undernutrition in children under five

Abstract

Undernutrition is an underlying cause of 45% of child deaths, which mostly occur in low- and middle-income countries (LIMC).¹ At the same time, overweight in children under five is increasing, from 4.9% (30.1 million) in 2000 to 5.9% (40.1 million) in 20182 and this contributes to obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases in adulthood.¹ Prevalence of stunting, wasting and overweight in children under five are primary outcome indicators for three of the six global nutrition targets endorsed by the World Health Assembly.³ Globally in 2018, 21.9% (149 million) children under five were stunted and 7.3% (49.5 million) were wasted. Overall, the number of stunted children has decreased from 198.2 million (32.5%) in 2000 to 149.0 million in 2018. In Africa (based on figures for the United Nations regions), the prevalence of stunting decreased from 38.0% to 30.0% from 2000 to 2018, yet the number of stunted children increased from 50.3 million to 58.8 million due to the increase in population size.²