Rate of stunting dropping fast

Unlike its South Asian neighbours India and Pakistan, Bangladesh is on course to meet the global targets for reducing stunting among children under five.

Though the rate of stunting -- low height for age -- is still high at 36 percent in Bangladesh, it is now dropping faster than in the past. The rate was 41 percent in 2011 and 51 percent in 2004.

According to the Global Nutrition Report (GNR) 2015, neither India nor Pakistan is on track for reducing stunting -- a major indicator of malnutrition. Stunting rate is over 40 percent in Pakistan and 39 percent in India.

The GNR is an independent annual assessment of the state of nutrition in the world. It monitors progress on nutrition in all its forms in terms of outcome and action for 193 countries.

The report is prepared by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and overseen by a wide-ranging stakeholder group. It is produced by an independent expert group of 20 individuals together with 70 additional authors from around the globe.

The report, which had a global launch in New York recently, will be released officially at a programme in Dhaka today.

Speaking to the media at a pre-launch in the capital yesterday, Lawrence Haddad, one of the GNR lead authors and IFPRI senior research fellow, said stunting rate is coming down fast in Bangladesh but the pace can be even faster provided the country invests more on nutrition.

The civil society needs to exert pressure on the government to this end, said Haddad. 

"If Ghana can reduce stunting to 19 percent, Bangladesh can do it as well. President Lula [da Silva] left a legacy in the fight against stunting in Brazil. Bangladesh can fight malnutrition too," hoped Haddad.

He praised Bangladesh's success in limiting open defecation below five percent while it is as high as over 40 percent in India.

It is to the credit of Bangladesh that it has been able to draw its development partners on board for investing in improving the nutrition level, he said.

Bangladesh needs to invest more to gather pace in the fight against malnutrition, as it is a densely populated country, and challenges are bigger here than in many other developing nations, said Haddad.

Bangladesh is on track in two of the eight indicators of nutrition situation -- under-5 stunting and overweight.

The six other nutrition indicators where Bangladesh's performance has not been impressive are -- wasting (underweight for height), anaemia in women, exclusive breast feeding, adult overweight, obesity and diabetes.

In Bangladesh, wasting remains high at 14 percent, far above the global target of five percent.

The report shows that when stunting and wasting are combined, “a minority of Bangladeshi under-5 children escape malnutrition.

“And bubbling under is the very real threat of growing levels of adult overweight and obesity, which although still at a relatively low levels (26%), are increasing fast.”

Haddad said 44 percent of women in Bangladesh are still anaemic, and their rice-centric dietary habit and deficiency of protein, vitamin and micronutrients have correlation with this high degree of anaemia.

He identified workplace incompatibility as a reason for Bangladesh's slide in terms of exclusive breastfeeding.

Exclusive breastfeeding refers to the percentage of children -- aged below six months -- who are fed only breast milk. 

The rate was well over 60 percent in Bangladesh but has now fallen below 50 percent with the spread of urbanisation and the increase in women's participation in formal workforce, Haddad said.

Talking to The Daily Star, Prof Nazma Shaheen, who teaches nutrition and food science at Dhaka University, said it is a good thing that working mothers in public sector now enjoy six-month maternity leave, which give them the opportunity to breastfeed their babies.

She said it must be ensured that women working in the private sector also get this facility.

Dr Akhter Ahmed, IFPRI Chief of Party in Bangladesh, told this correspondent that malnutrition and childhood stunting in the country can be brought down further by incorporating nutrition education in different social safety net programmes (SSNPs).

An IFPRI study has found that mere transfer of food or cash under the SSNPs would not make much difference in terms of improving people's nutrition level unless these programmes were tagged with nutrition behaviour change communication (BCC).

Bangladesh spends $2.5 billion (2.8 percent of its GDP) on SSNPs a year.

Dr Akhter praised the government's policy support, as Bangladesh has become the first country in the world to develop and release three zinc-enriched rice varieties, and also the first country in South Asia to fortify cooking oil with vitamin-A.

These would help improve the state of nutrition in the country, he hoped.

People in Bangladesh get from rice 71 percent of their calorie intake, 54 percent of protein intake and 40 percent of zinc intake.