Aguayo Víctor M, Menon Purnima
Regional Nutrition Advisor for South Asia, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Regional Office for South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), New Delhi, India.
Matern Child Nutr. 2016 May;12 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):3-11. doi: 10.1111/mcn.12283.
The latest available data indicate that 38% of South Asia's children aged 0-59 months are stunted. Such high prevalence combined with the region's large child population explain why South Asia bears about 40% of the global burden of stunting. Recent analyses indicate that the poor diets of children in the first years of life, the poor nutrition of women before and during pregnancy and the prevailing poor sanitation practices in households and communities are important drivers of stunting, most likely because of underlying conditions of women's status, food insecurity, poverty, and social inequalities. With this evidence in mind, UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia convened the Regional Conference: Stop Stunting: Improving Child Feeding, Women's Nutrition, and Household Sanitation in South Asia (New Delhi, November 10-12, 2014). The Conference provided a knowledge-for-action platform with three objectives: (1) share state-of-the-art research findings on the causes of child stunting and its consequences for child growth and development and the sustainable growth and development of nations; (2) discuss better practices and the cost and benefits of scaling up programmes to improve child feeding, women's nutrition, and household sanitation in South Asia; and (3) identify implications for sectoral and cross-sectoral policy, programme, advocacy and research to accelerate progress in reducing child stunting in South Asia. This overview paper summarizes the rationale for the focus on improving child feeding, women's nutrition, and household sanitation as priority areas for investment to prevent child stunting in South Asia. It builds on the invited papers presented at or developed as a follow on to the Stop Stunting Conference.
最新可得数据表明，南亚0至59个月大的儿童中有38%发育迟缓。如此高的患病率，再加上该地区庞大的儿童人口，解释了为何南亚承担着全球约40%的发育迟缓负担。近期分析表明，儿童在生命最初几年的不良饮食、妇女在孕前和孕期的营养不良，以及家庭和社区普遍存在的不良卫生习惯，是发育迟缓的重要驱动因素，很可能是由于妇女地位、粮食不安全、贫困和社会不平等这些潜在状况所致。鉴于此证据，联合国儿童基金会南亚区域办事处召开了“杜绝发育迟缓：改善南亚儿童喂养、妇女营养和家庭卫生”区域会议（2014年11月10日至12日，新德里）。该会议提供了一个知识转化为行动的平台，有三个目标：（1）分享关于儿童发育迟缓的原因及其对儿童生长发育以及国家可持续增长和发展的影响的最新研究成果；（2）讨论改善南亚儿童喂养、妇女营养和家庭卫生的更好做法以及扩大相关方案的成本和效益；（3）确定对部门和跨部门政策、方案、宣传及研究的影响，以加速南亚在减少儿童发育迟缓方面取得进展。本综述文件总结了将改善儿童喂养、妇女营养和家庭卫生作为南亚预防儿童发育迟缓的优先投资领域的基本原理。它基于在杜绝发育迟缓会议上发表的特邀论文或作为该会议后续成果而撰写的论文。
