Economic Growth Does Not Affect Malnutrition Problems in children: Study

Economic growth and advancement does not affect nutritional ranking of malnourished children in most of the poor countries around the world, according to a study.

Researchers from renowned universities around the world studied data from 121 Demographic and health surveys conducted between 1990 and 2011 to note incidences of undernourishment in 36 low and middle-income nations. They recorded how changes in a country's gross domestic product (GDP) can impact changes in unplanned weight loss, growth failure, stunting starvation in children aged below three.

They found that 5 percent increase in GDP reduced the likelihood of growth failure in children by 0.4 percent. Other aspects of malnutrition like severe weight loss and food wastage reported reduction by 1.1 and 1.7 percent, respectively. These numbers are too inadequate to link association of economic advancement in reducing undernourishment in children from disadvantaged background.

S.V. Subramanian, senior author and professor of population health and geography at HSPH said in a press release, "These findings represent a potentially major shift in how we think about policies to reduce child undernutrition. They emphasize that focusing on improving economic growth does not necessarily translate to child health gains."

The authors noted various factors like income disparity, lack of benefits like health insurance, insufficient expenditure on nutrition and health care as some of the reasons behind soaring rates of undernutrition in children. In some countries, despite the rise in the income, absence of public amenities like vaccinations and clean drinking water contributes to the problem.            

Sebastian Vollmer, co-author and assistant professor of development economics at the University of Göttingen, Germany said, "Our study does not imply that economic development is not important in a general sense but cautions policymakers about relying solely on the trickle-down effects of economic growth on child nutrition."

Experts believe further inspection is needed to identify health-care policies and measures that can help curb pandemic incidence of malnutrition.

According to estimates by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, one in eight people around the world suffer from severe undernourishment. Around, 15 percent of the population in developing countries is hungry while developed countries reportedly have 16 million undernourished citizens.

The research is published in the journal 'The Lancet'.