Stunted growth is a reduced growth rate in human development. It is a primary manifestation of malnutrition in early childhood, including malnutrition during fetal development brought on by the malnourished mother. According to the latest UN estimates, an estimated 165 million children under 5 years of age, or 26%, were stunted in 2011. More than 90% of the world's stunted children live in Africa and Asia, where 36% respectively 27% of children are affected. Once established, stunting and its effects typically become permanent. Stunted children may never regain the height lost as a result of stunting, and most children will never gain the corresponding body weight. It also leads to premature death later in life because vital organs never fully develop during childhood.
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Famous quotes containing the words stunted and/or growth:
“I think it is worse to be poor in mind than in purse, to be stunted and belittled in soul, made a coward, made a liar, made mean and slavish, accustomed to fawn and prevaricate, and “manage” by base arts a husband or a father,—I think this is worse than to be kicked with hobnailed shoes.”
—Frances Power Cobbe (1822–1904)
“Although its growth may seem to have been slow, it is to be remembered that it is not a shrub, or plant, to shoot up in the summer and wither in the frosts. The Red Cross is a part of us—it has come to stay—and like the sturdy oak, its spreading branches shall yet encompass and shelter the relief of the nation.”
—Clara Barton (1821–1912)