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Social Education
Because stunting results from several household, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural factors, reduction of stunting requires that direct nutrition interventions are integrated and implemented in tandem with nutrition-sensitive interventions. For example, prevention of infections requires household practices such as hand-washing with soap, the success of which depends on behaviour change to adopt the practice (culture), the availability of safe water (water supply), and the affordability of soap (socioeconomic status) (30, 31). Similarly, the availability of high-quality foods (food supply) and affordability of nutrient-rich foods (socioeconomic status) will affect a family’s ability to provide a healthy diet and prevent child stunting.
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Nutrition
One of the most effective interventions for preventing stunting during the complementary feeding period is improving the quality of children’s diets. Evidence suggests that greater dietary diversity and the consumption of foods from animal sources are associated with improved linear growth. While these solutions have not been tried as standalone large-scale programmatic interventions, assessments of nutrition- sensitive agriculture recognize dietary diversification and income generation through family farming as likely pathways through which agriculture and food systems could improve nutrition and reduce stunting. Recent analyses suggest that households that can afford diversified diets, including fortified complementary foods, experience improved nutrient intakes and reduced stunting.
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Vaccination
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is a pneumococcal vaccine and a conjugate vaccine used to protect infants, young children, and adults against disease caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumonia. “The infection affects the nutritional health of many toddlers , causing stunting. In addition to reducing infant mortality and under-five mortality,the provision of PCV immunization is expected to reduce the stunting rate,” he said. (“Government Provides PCV Immunization for All Indonesian Children to Protect from Dangers of Pulmonary Inflammation (Pneumonia)”)
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Breastfeed
Early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months provides protection against gastrointestinal infections, which can lead to severe nutrient depletion and therefore stunting. Breast milk is also a key source of nutrients during infection. Studies in resource-poor settings have associated non-exclusive breastfeeding with poorer growth outcomes, because breast milk is displaced, or replaced, by less nutritious foods that often also expose infants to diarrhoeal infections. Similarly, continued breastfeeding in the second year contributes significantly to intake of key nutrients that are lacking in low-quality complementary diets in resource- poor settings. Read More →
Today’s newborns.
Tomorrow’s leaders.
Children affected by stunting are already facing serious threats to their long-term health and wellbeing—and that’s before you factor in climate change’s devastating impacts on them. We have the power to stop poor nutrition and the climate crisis, but we must act urgently on both.
