FROM PAGE 12

highlighting chronic malnutrition and an urgent need for interventions.

According to the 2022 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS), one in four children (24 percent) is stunted (low height for age). The figure is 40 percent in urban slums -- far above the WHO threshold of 15 percent.

Besides, 22 percent of children are underweight, while 11 percent are affected by wasting (low weight for height) -- more than double the WHO emergency threshold of 5 percent.

The WHO emergency threshold serves as a benchmark to determine whether a public health issue, such as a disease or malnutrition, has reached a critical level that requires immediate intervention.

The BDHS report showed that economic disparities play a major role in child malnutrition: stunting affects 34.5 percent of children from the poorest households, while rates of wasting also show a strong correlation with household income.

Nazma Shaheen, a professor at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science of Dhaka university, said, “When the cost of a healthy diet soars, many families simply cannot afford it and are forced to compromise on the quality of meals.”

Unhygienic food, poor sanitation, and unsafe water lead to an increase in diarrhoea and infections, driving up malnutrition, she said.

Adolescent pregnancies also heighten health risks -- 51 percent of girls marry before 18, and 73 out of every 1,000 girls aged 15-19 give birth, perpetuating intergenerational malnutrition.

THE CONSEQUENCES

Nutritional gaps in childhood have lasting effects on growth, cognition, and well-being.

Md Akhtaruzzaman, a professor at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, said, “Stunting can limit learning abilities and academic performance, eventually leading to economic disadvantages in adulthood.”

According to UNICEF, wasting further compromises immunity and increases the risk of child mortality, while severely underweight children face a greater risk of death.

Highlighting the economic case for early nutrition, UNICEF Country Representative Rana Flowers said, “If you get health, nutrition, and brain development right early on, education and long-term economic growth follow.”

Bangladesh’s per capita nutrition spending is only $18, and many ministries fail to fully utilise even this, found a 2024 study by South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM).

Of the spending, 98 percent goes to broad “nutrition-sensitive” programmes and just 2 percent to direct interventions.

Efficiency is further weakened by misaligned local priorities, political influence, and overlapping roles between ministries such as the health ministry and the food ministry, it said.

THE WAY FORWARD

Experts suggest that frontline health workers should lead interventions on maternal supplementation, breastfeeding promotion, dietary diversity, and school-based nutrition education, hygiene initiatives, and aid targeted at slum residents and the extreme poor.

They also call for the expansion of school meals that will include eggs, nuts, fortified biscuits, and milk.

SANEM recommended a real-time database to monitor programmes regularly, and a dedicated, module-based nutrition budget enabling local authorities to set regional priorities.

Sayema Haque Bidisha, research director at SANEM and a professor at DU, suggested strengthening social safety net programmes such as Open Market Sale (OMS) for low-income families.

Sayema’s suggestions were backed by Nazma Shaheen.

“Without strengthening the current programmes, years of progress in child nutrition could vanish, leaving the nation to pay the price in health, education, and economic potential,” she noted.