Impact of stunting on early childhood cognitive development in Benin: evidence from Demographic and Health Survey

Abstract

Background Proper nutrition is crucial for enhancing brain function and improving learning. Over time, large evidence has existed to show that childhood undernutrition, marked by stunting, is connected with age-long reduction in cognitive and academic achievement. It is of interest to achieve healthy growth and optimal cognitive development in early childhood. The objective of this study was to examine stunting considered to adversely influence cognitive development among children and therefore of public health importance. Results About two thirds (64.3%) of under-five children attained optimal cognition. Stunted children had 7% reduction in optimal cognitive development, compared with not stunted children (RR = 0.93; 95%CI 0.83, 0.98). Among the covariates, geographical region was significantly associated with optimal cognitive development. In addition, children of Islamic, traditional/other religion, and no religion had significant reduction in optimal cognitive development, compared with children of Christianity belief. Children from mothers who had secondary and tertiary education, listened to radio, and watched television had an increase in optimal cognitive development, compared with children from uneducated mothers. Furthermore, children from mothers who are employed had an 8% increase in optimal cognitive development (RR = 1.08; 95%CI: 1.02, 1.14). Conclusion Due to the adverse impact of stunting on optimal cognitive development, we suggest that government and stakeholders in child welfare should ensure that development programmes combine health and nutrition services with early learning and rely on families as partners to have children’s cognitive development effectively. Early childhood cognitive development programmes should be implemented through families and caregivers, with special focus on disadvantaged children as a poverty reduction strategy, and ensure that all children are adequately nourished.

Assessing early child development and its association with stunting and schistosome infections in rural Zimbabwean children using the Griffiths Scales of Child Development

“…Stunting in the first 5 years of life has both immediate and long-term effects in children [ 37 ]. For example, work in Benin has shown that stunting compromises cognitive development in children [ 35 ], while a cohort study in 8 Low-Middle Income Countries including those in Africa demonstrated that stunting within the first 6 months which persisted for 60 months was associated with lower cognitive development in children at 5 years old [ 36 ]. UNICEF recognizes malnutrition as having potential adverse consequences on child survival and long-term well-being with far reaching consequences for economic productivity and human capital development.…”

“…A study on the challenges faced by children aged 5 years and below conducted in all the provinces of Zimbabwe [34], showed that the majority of children attending ECD classes came from backgrounds fraught with challenges such as hunger, economic hardships, poor mobility of parents, lack of infrastructure and low parental knowledge about the importance of ECD education. Hunger and poor nutrition contribute to stunting and several studies [35,36] have shown a link between stunting and poor child development in low-and middle-income countries. We detected a 26.8% prevalence of stunting, similar to the prevalence of 26% reported in Zimbabwean children aged 5 years and below in 2018 (http://fnc.org.zw/documents/).…”

The Effectiveness of the Interprofessional Collaboration (IPC) Program on The Attitude of Mothers and Health Cadres on Stunting at Puskesmas Karanganom Klaten Central Java Republic of Indonesia

“…The study results showed a relationship between the birth length of toddlers, history of exclusive breastfeeding, family income, mother's education, and maternal nutrition knowledge on the incidence of stunting in toddlers. Therefore, integrated and multisectoral programs are needed to increase family income, education, nutrition knowledge, and exclusive breastfeeding in reducing stunting [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. low family economic status is a significant risk factor for stunting in toddlers aged 2-3 years [4,15].…”

“…Other nutritional problems related to stunting are anemia in pregnant women (37.1%), low birth weight babies (10.2%), underweight or wasting infants (10.1%), and anemia in toddlers. Only 48.6% of children under five do not suffer from nutritional disorders [9][10][11][12]. Another factor for stunting is the individual level, caregivers, poor diet, and low maternal education [13][14][15][16][17].…”

Nutritional status of children attending schools benefitting from UNICEF’s assisted water, sanitation and hygiene programming in Ogun State, Nigeria

“…Nutritional de ciencies during a child's development have long-term adverse consequences on cognition, social abilities, school performance, and work productivity as they grow into adults, and in rare situations may lead to disorders or death [1,3,4]. More importantly, malnourished girls are likely to become malnourished mothers, with higher odds of giving birth to low-birth-weight infants, who are more likely to die or become stunted [3].…”