The chance of developing nations meeting the UN’s target to reduce child malnutrition by 2015 is very slim, say researchers.

The study, published online in The Lancet, states that these nations have less than a 5% chance of meeting the UN’s Millennium Development Goal target.

The researchers examined trends in the weight and height of more than 7.7 million children in 141 countries between 1985 and 2011.

Professor Majid Ezzati, from the School of Public Health at Imperial College, London, UK, explained:

“Our analysis shows that the developing world as a whole has made considerable progress towards reducing child malnutrition, but there are still far too many children who don’t receive sufficient nutritious foods or who lose nutrients due to repeated sickness. Severe challenges lie ahead.”

The Millennium Development Goal aims to end poverty and hunger by the year 2015, and one way to track its progress is the proportion of underweight children.

According to the researchers more than 250 million children were mildly to severely underweight in 2011, with 17 countries – primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania – not showing any significant improvement.

However, in some regions, particularly in some parts of Latin America and Asia – there have been significant improvements. They state that of the 141 nations studied, 61 are estimated to have a 50-100% chance of meeting the UN targets.

Over the last 25 years, children’s height has improved significantly in China. In addition, Latin America and the Caribbean region are also showing considerable improvements in this are.

The researchers explain that in the majority of these nations, the improvements are due to overall improvements in the population’s nutrition.

Professor Ezzati said:

“There is evidence that child nutrition is best improved through equitable economic growth, investment in policies that help smallholder farmers and increase agricultural productivity, and primary care and food programs targeted at the poor. We mustn’t allow the global economic crisis and rising food prices to cause inequalities to increase, or cut back on investments in nutrition and healthcare.”

In an associated report, Professor Penny Gordon-Larsen from the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, USA, explained: “[This study] emphasizes the vastly different circumstances faced by children in low-income and middle-income countries. Barring radical change, children in the lowest-income countries (especially in the sub-Saharan African and South Asian regions), will continue to bear the enormous social, economic, health, and human capital costs of maternal and childhood undernutrition into the foreseeable future.”

|n addition, Professor Gordon-Larsen highlights that some countries which experienced high levels of child undernourishment in the past are now facing increasing levels of obesity. She explained: “The dual burden of undernutrition and overnutrition at country level will challenge resource allocators to meet the needs of undernourished and overnourished populations simultaneously. The successful balance between reduction of hunger and curbing of rising obesity is a challenge.”

Written by Grace Rattue