The Ministry of Health has revealed the county with the highest number of children with stunted growth. Kilifi County has been named as the county with the highest number of stunted growth children in the country.
The statistics from the Ministry of Health further reveals that in every three children at least one is affected.
In the Minister’s speech read by the Cabinet Assistant Secretary Khatibu Mwashetani on his behalf, it was revealed that some counties have a higher chances of stunted growth in children which is above thirty percent, while in other counties the chances are as low as five percent.
The data was made public during an inspection of the NICHE project, funded by United Nations Children’s Fund, at Vishakani dispensary in Kaloleni Constituency.
Cabinet Assistant Secretary for health Mwashetani also shared that the country has made a good progress in lowering the number of stunted children at the age of five years from thirty five percent in 2003 to eighteen percent in last year.
Despite the significant progress, there is still a need to do more to further lower the number of children affected by stunted growth.
Stunting growth in young children is caused by malnutrition, and it leads to children being too short for their age due to a lack of proper nutritionnutrition.
Health Experts, nutritionists, says that stunted growth can cause long-term consequences for children, such as increased risk of infections, delayed mental development and a reduced chance of achieving their full potential.
Stunting growth also may pose greater risks in life in the long run as long-term effects on individuals and societies which includes poor cognition and educational performance, low adult wages, lost productivity and, when accompanied by excessive weight gain later in childhood, an increased risk of nutrition-related chronic diseases in adult life.
