NEW DELHI – More than 61 million stunted children are from India, findings by the United Nations Children’s Fund have revealed. These children remain weak both intellectually and physically for the rest of their lives, the reason for this being malnutrition. These children make up for over a quarter of those coming under five years of age and this will mean that the potentials of over a quarter of these five year old kids have gone for a waste, which is more than unfair, reported Shawn Pogatchnik for AP.
According to UNICEF’s executive director, Anthony Lake, since 2010, lack of clean water, vitamins and a better focus on breast feeding to these kids would have helped prevent this sad fate of these children. These children will in fact remain increasingly vulnerable to various illnesses and may even face an early death, he said.
“Stunting is the least understood, least recognized and least acted upon crisis. It is a hidden crisis for these children,” said Lake, as has been reported by the AP.
These kids have been deprived from folic acid, iron and vitamin which are so vital at the time of their development in the womb. “Stunted doesn’t mean simply short,” Lake said. “The child’s brain never properly develops. Irrevocably. That’s it. You can’t fix it later. You can fix being underweight. You can’t fix being stunted after age 2.”
