Nutritional paths during childhood: what conditions favor recovery from chronic malnutrition?
| Areas | : | Poverty and equality, Health and nutrition |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher/s in charge | : | Carmen Ponce |
| Execution time | : | January 2012 - August 2012 |
Presentation
This study seeks to contribute to the debate about conditions that favor recovery from long-standing nutritional shortages (materialized in height for age indicators)
Using the Young Lives longitudinal survey – representative panel survey at urban and rural level – the study analyzes the nutritional paths of Peruvian children 5 to 8 years old.
There is national evidence (presented in this proposal) and international evidence on chronic malnutrition recovery processes (low height for age and sex) after five years of age. In the Peruvian case, the figures are remarkable: 27% of rural children manage to recover between 5 and 8 years of age, while 12% achieve it in urban zones. That is, almost half of the children whose height when 5 years old was outside the normal range for his/her age and sex (according to WHO standards) managed to recover in three years, both in urban and rural areas. This recovery percentage is remarkable, especially in a context of limited nutritional support policies focused on this group.
Understanding the reasons why would contribute to the design of policies that even though cost-effective, would achieve nutritional recovery in groups that continue to be excluded. The proposed study seeks to analyze these nutritional paths and identify the individual or environmental factors (including the public policies of Juntos and the spheres of the Crecer strategy) that are contributing with greater strength to the partial or full height recovery age and sex in children of urban and rural areas.
