Trends in mild, moderate, and severe stunting and underweight, and progress towards MDG 1 in 141 developing countries: a systematic analysis of population representative data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

There is little information on country trends in the complete distributions of children's anthropometric status, which are needed to assess all levels of mild to severe undernutrition. We aimed to estimate trends in the distributions of children's anthropometric status and assess progress towards the Millennium Development Goal 1 (MDG 1) target of halving the prevalence of weight-for-age Z score (WAZ) below -2 between 1990 and 2015 or reaching a prevalence of 2·3% or lower.

Methods

We collated population-representative data on height-for-age Z score (HAZ) and WAZ calculated with the 2006 WHO child growth standards. Our data sources were health and nutrition surveys, summary statistics from the WHO Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition, and summary stati

SUBMITTER: Stevens GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3443900 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature