Malawi study reveals devastating cost of child undernutrition
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Version 0 of 1. Malawi’s development is being thwarted by child undernutrition, the effects of which continue to blight the lives of 60% of the impoverished country’s adults and costing its economy hundreds of millions a year, according to a new study. As well as dragging down Malawi’s productivity levels and putting a strain on health and education services, undernutrition has decimated the country’s potential workforce: an estimated 10.7% of those who would now be aged between 15 and 64 died as children because of undernourishment. Between 2008 and 2012, almost 82,000 child deaths in Malawi – 23% of all child mortalities – were estimated to be directly associated with undernutrition, the study says. The report, a joint study by the Malawian ministry of finance, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the African Union Commission and others, says the consequences of stunting have been particularly devastating. Related: Malawi: The scale of devastation from January's floods is still unfolding – in pictures Stunting – or low height for age – occurs when children miss out on vital nutrients in the womb and in the first two years of their lives. Its effects are enduring, causing frequent illness, poor educational performance and low productivity at work. “Despite significant progress made in recent years, results … have shown that almost half of all children under five in Malawi (1.268 million out of 2.765 million children) were affected by stunting in 2012, and almost 350,715 children were underweight,” says the study. “This situation is especially critical for children between 12 and 23 months, out of whom 54.3% are affected by stunting.” The study, entitled The cost of hunger in Africa: the social and economic impact of child undernutrition in Malawi, found that 59.9% of working-age Malawians had suffered from growth retardation before reaching the age of five. With two-thirds of the country’s population working in manual activities, Malawi is estimated to have lost $66.7m in 2012 alone because of the reduced productivity of those who were stunted as children. In the same year, says the report, Malawi lost 800,566 working hours due to absent workforce as a result of incremental undernutrition-related child mortalities. Overall, the country is thought to have lost $597m (£381m) in 2012 – equivalent to 10.3% of its GDP – because of child undernutrition. Related: Malawi floods cause devastation – in pictures “The study findings have clearly shown that adequate nutrition is critical for one’s physical and intellectual development and work productivity, and is therefore an integral element for socioeconomic development,” said Goodall Gondwe, Malawi’s minister of finance, economic planning and development. “It is in this context that we are determined as a government to channel adequate resources towards nutrition interventions. [The] government will also strengthen institutional and human capacity for the effective delivery of nutrition services.” The report warns that without greater attention to the issue, Malawi’s economic development will be further undermined. It calls for nutritional efforts to be focused on vulnerable groups – including infants, young and school-age children, and people living with HIV – and stresses the importance of breastfeeding, diverse diets, water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, and strategies to prevent and reverse undernutrition, such as deworming and micronutrient treatments. Malawi is still struggling to recover from January’s floods, which affected more than a million people, left hundreds dead and devastated 64,000 hectares (158,080 acres) of land. The WFP estimates that more than 600,000 Malawians will need food assistance between now and July. |