Suppose I asked you to imagine a courtroom in which a stern judge peers with indifference at a baby — and off-handedly condemns the infant either to death or a life shorter than her peers, with poorer cognitive capacity, more likelihood of disease and less ability to learn at school and earn as an adult. Of course, you would say this is unimaginable. What judge, or human being, would do such a thing? But this is what is happening to an estimated 180 million children under the age of 5, children whose bodies and minds are limited by stunting. Stunting, or stunted growth, is the result of chronic nutritional deficiencies. A stunted 5-year-old is four to six inches shorter than a non-stunted peer. But lost height is the least of concerns: a stunted child, for instance, is nearly five times more likely to die from diarrhea than a non-stunted child because of the physiological changes in a stunted body. Stunting is also associated with impaired brain development. A typical stunted brain has fewer cells. The cells themselves are somewhat smaller, and the interconnection between them is more limited. This means lasting impaired functioning, which leads in turn to significantly reduced learning. Considering the severe effects, stunting has received far too little attention for far too long. (MORE: Somalia: A Famine We Made?) But if you haven’t heard of it, you’re not alone. When I recently mentioned stunting at a meeting of hundreds of medical experts, I could see a large number of puzzled faces in the audience. To my astonishment, less than half the audience, in a show of hands, had even heard of it. The physical and cognitive damage caused by not receiving enough of the right type of nutrients, especially in the first two years of life and also in utero, is permanent. It cannot be treated. But it can be prevented — and at relatively little cost. Stunting is so common in some areas that it is sometimes mistaken for a genetic heritage, rather than a preventable condition. … Continue reading The Global Crisis You’ve Never Heard Of: Stunting