28 percent children under five stunted

Child nutrition should be included in the election manifestos of candidates to address undernutrition in children under five, said speakers at a dialogue yesterday.

The event, jointly organised by Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF) and Right2Grow Consortium Bangladesh, was held at the capital's The Daily Star Centre.

Around 28 percent children aged under five is stunted while 24 percent are underweight and 12 percent are "wasted", according to Right2Grow Consortium Bangladesh data.

The numbers were derived through the regular monitoring of 8,348 children under five.

WHO defines "wasting" as low weight-for-height due to inadequate food intake or prolonged illnesses. Meanwhile, "stunting" denotes low height-for-age due to chronic or recurrent undernutrition, usually associated with poverty, poor maternal health and nutrition, and inappropriate feeding and care in early life.

"In the 2022-23 fiscal year, 5.43 percent of the total budget was allocated to the health sector. However, there was no specific allocation for nutrition," said BSAF coordinator Shafia Sami.

She recommended revising the national budget, including the issue in election manifesto, further research and developing a malnutrition costing model, designing and conducting awareness campaigns, forming task forces and establishing monitoring mechanisms to combat the issue.

Speaking as special guest, Shyamol Dutta, general secretary of Jatiya Press Club and executive editor of The Daily Bhorer Kagoj, emphasised the importance of ensuring maternal nutrition as the health of a child depends on the mother's well-being.

Parliament member Aroma Dutta said, "Instead of talking about including child nutrition in promises during electoral campaigns, we should actually walk the talk."