6.0m kids under five suffering from chronic under-nutrition

About six million children under five in the country have been suffering from chronic under nutrition while 15 per cent infants up to three months old are underweight suggesting their birth with low weight, a study revealed.
 "Food insecurity has been steadily decreasing across Bangladesh since late 2011. But chronic under-nutrition still impacts around six million Bangladeshi children under five," the study said.
This is likely linked to the fact that in Bangladesh, over half of first pregnancies occurred among adolescent girls; 30 per cent of these adolescent girls were short for their age, suggesting they too had begun life malnourished.
The study titled 'State of Food Security and Nutrition in Bangladesh 2012' jointly conducted by BRAC University and Helen Keller International and funded by the European Union was launched at a city hotel Wednesday.
The prevalence of stunting (chronic child malnutrition) was 37 per cent, impacting over six million children under the age of five. Annually, 11 per cent of children were wasted which suggests that approximately 4.6 million children suffered from acute malnutrition at some point during 2012.
It said one in four pregnant women was so thin that their foetuses faced a moderate risk of growth retardation. Pregnant women were thinner on an average than non-pregnant women, it added noting, over half of first pregnancies occurred among adolescent girls (18 years of age and younger), despite Bangladesh's low fertility rate and diets remained extremely poor even during pregnancy.
The overall prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding decreased from 2011 to 2012; and there was an increase in water intake rates for children under six months of age.
 "Women's overweight is a growing problem; nationally in 2012, more adult women were overweight than chronically energy-deficient," the study said.
Hand-washing is practised at only about half of key moments such as after using the toilet, after cleaning the child, before feeding, before preparing food or before eating.
Though Bangladesh continues to make steady progress in child nutrition and household food security, more attention should be paid to reduce the adolescent pregnancy rate, it said.
"Bangladesh is at double risk with nutrition - under nutrition and overweight", Helen Keller International Country Director, Erica Khetran said.
"Young, malnourished mothers give birth to low birth weight babies who in turn are at increased risk of chronic under nutrition - this cycle should be broken," she said.
She requested the policy makers in Bangladesh to take steps to encourage more active lifestyle and healthy diets to prevent the rise of diabetes and heart disease.
BRAC Institute of Global Health (BIGH) Director Dr Zeba Mahmud suggested proper care to adolescent girls saying, "Care for adolescent girls is needed to break the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition".
The Food Security Nutritional Surveillance Programme (FSNSP) data shows that "Nutritional outcome of adolescent girls have improved, however nearly one-third of adolescent girls are still short for their ages and 11 per cent had a moderately or severely low body mass index (BMI) and this is irrespective of their wealth status or area of residence".