NEW DELHI: Preventing infants and children from becoming undernourished is more effective than treating children who are already moderately malnourished, according to a study conducted by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Cornell University. The study, carried out in Haiti, was published in the February 16 issue of The Lancet, a leading medical journal.
“The findings from Haiti are of global significance because all children, no matter where they live, have the same nutritional needs in the first two years of life for proper growth and development,” explained Purnima Menon, co-author on The Lancet article and IFPRI research fellow, based in New Delhi, India.
“The study is particularly relevant for South Asia, which has both the highest rates of child malnutrition in the world and is home to the greatest number of undernourished children.”
“Malnutrition must be addressed in the first two years of life, the crucial period for a child’s physical and cognitive development,” according to Marie Ruel, lead author of The Lancet article and director of the Food Consumption and Nutrition Division at IFPRI. “If nutrition programmes wait until children have already become malnourished, their benefits are significantly diminished.”
Despite compelling evidence of the need to target all children in poor communities before the age of two, not just those already malnourished, most food-assisted maternal and child health and nutrition programmes target only underweight children, up to five years of age. According to the study findings, the nutrition programmes need greater focus on expectant and breastfeeding mothers, infants and toddlers.
Another IFPRI-led study published in The Lancet found that improving nutrition of very young children leads to increased productivity in adulthood. While it highlights long-term returns from investing in early childhood nutrition, the Haiti study shows how to go about it.
s_rajesh@dnaindia.net
