Al Amin :
Stunted and underweight children have increased, especially in rural area, due to the problem of malnutrition in the country.
Stunted growth is a consequence of longer-term poor nutrition in early childhood and it is associated with problems of economic development.
It is often impossible to correct stunted growth and a child who is stunted is likely to experience a lifetime of poor health and underachievement, experts say.
Dr Sharmin Rumi Alim, Professor of Institute of Nutrition and Food Science of Dhaka University, told The New Nation, “It is not possible to get the people out of such a socially vulnerable position easily without providing alternative employment and boosting the rural economy.”
Malnutrition rates still remain alarming in the rural remote parts of the country and the rate of stunting is declining too slowly in urban area, a survey said.
In Bangladesh, 36 percent of children under the age of five are now stunted, whereas only 22 percent children in African countries and 39 per cent in India suffer from this problem.
The number of the stunted children was 43 per cent in 2007, 41 percent in 2011, 36 percent in 2014 and 31 percent in 2018, according to the World Food Program of the United Nation.
The study said the children under the age of five in the developing world suffer from stunted growth as a result of chronic maternal and childhood under nutrition.
Food assistance interventions should emphasise micronutrient-enriched foods and improved dietary diversity to overcome the situation, it added.
On the other hand, a recent survey, conducted on 125 families in Ramna union of Chilmari upazila, showed that 45.5 per cent children under the age of 5 are stunted, while 35 percent of children between the ages of 5 to 10 suffer from this.
Besides, 49.4 percent children are underweight and more than 40 percent of women are stunted, according to the survey on ‘Nutritional Status, Dietary Food and Nutrient Consumption Patterns in Manga Affected Area of the Northern Part of Bangladesh.’
Mahbubur Rahman, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of the Chilmari, told this correspondent, “There is extreme malnutrition among the people of this region and the people are not able to get out of this due to lack of employment caused by frequent floods and river bank erosion.”
Besides, slowdown in agricultural activities has brought down the living standards of the people, he added.
He said earnings have declined due to the disappearance of the river and fisheries economy and the adverse situation is hurting the mothers and the children the most.
“However, development partners from home and abroad and the government are working hard to improve the quality of health,” the UNO said.
“If the socio-economic condition of the region does not change, it is not possible for the people to get out of such a situation,” he observed.
