Learn more about stunting, the condition Cambodian locals refer to as stunted brain in World Vision New Zealand’s television campaign 

 

A: Stunted growth is reduced growth rate in human development. 

A: It is defined as having a height-for-age more than 2 standard deviations below the World Health Organisation child growth standards.

A: No.  Wasting is a measure of weight.  Stunting is when children are too short for their age.

A: The term "stunted brain" is an English translation of the Cambodian word for stunting. It is not a different medical condition and it doesn't imply brain damage or retardation, it simply describes the fact that when children's bodies don't grow properly their brain development is slowed. 

A: Stunting is a consequence of a range of factors that are closely linked to poverty, including nutrition, health, sanitation and environment. 

Stunting can be caused by inadequate nutrition (either insufficient food or inadequate intake of vitamins and minerals), infection or other illness in the early years of a child's life.  Stunting is a key indicator of chronic malnutrition. 

A: The World Health Organisation estimates that 178 million children globally are stunted due to poor nutrition and disease.

A: As growth slows down, a child's brain development lags, and stunted children tend to show poorer school performance and impaired intellectual and social development than well-nourished children. 

Studies have shown that they also tend to enter school later and miss more days of school.  

Children suffering growth retardation are at greater risk of illness and death than well-nourished children. Childhood stunting leads to reduced adult size, as most children do not recover the height difference. 

This leads to reduced work capacity later in life, and have long term economic impacts on individuals, communities and national economies.

A: Stunting begins from the outset of life within the womb (in-utero), and can be caused by ante-, peri- and post-natal conditions, including maternal malnutrition, illness or disease during pregnancy, low blood-oxygen, or maternal smoking. 

Intrauterine growth is a strong predictor of post-natal growth, and low birthweight is one of the major precursors for impaired development later in life.

A: Primarily through health and nutrition training, and seeking to enhance the nutrition of a community (especially women of child-bearing age).   

This results in a greater range of nutritious food being produced and better use of available food. Our work also results in the encouragement of fish farming, chicken raising and vegetable production.

Access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation practices reduce the incidence of diseases such as typhoid and diarrhoea – improving the health and well being of a community.

Click here to read more about what World Vision staff are doing to improve health in a remote Cambodian village

A: The high prevalence of stunting in developing countries, and the long term economic and social consequences this causes, underscores the crucial importance of good maternal health and adequate child nutrition. 

World Vision is about to launch a global child health campaign which will run for several years with the goal of substantially improving maternal health and child health wellbeing statistics.