The Stunting Syndrome in Developing Countries

Running head: Nursing 1
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Introduction
The article “The stunting syndrome in developing countries” by Prendergast and Humphrey
(2014) aims to explore and identify evidence for windows of opportunity for interventions by
reviewing the existing insight into growth failure in the development cycle. Stunting is the
impaired growth and development experienced by children due to poor nutrition, constant
infection, and insufficient psychological stimulation. A child is perceived to be stunted if the
“height for age” value is less than the double standard deviations below the median of the
population (World Health Organization, 2014a). Asia is leading in the prevalence of the most
stunted infants (about 100 million) across the globe, followed by Africa with a prevalence of
40% due to population growth and undernutrition (De Onis, Blössner,& Borghi, 2010). The
incidence of stunting should be addressed because the defect has for long been neglect and
yet it is a global health problem (UNICEF, 2009). Moreover, it hampers normal body growth
and development, thus affecting even the economic productivity of the adults.
This essay aims at critically assessing the study by Prendergast and Humphrey (2014) on the
Stunting Syndrome in Developing Countries. Additionally, the literature of the paper will be
explained with reference to the existing research, and a swot analysis conducted in order to
determine the value and relevance of its contribution. Previous studies viewed stunting and
wasting independently (McDonald et al., 2013), however current research considers both
conditions together (Khara, 2016).
Martorell and Zongrone (2012) observe that the core determinants of stunting include
environmental factors such as the status of maternal nutrition, feeding practices, the incidence
of infections, cleanliness, and accessibility to healthcare. Epidemiological studies have also
reported proximal determinants of stunting to include inadequate breastfeeding and other
feeding practices, repeated infections and nutritional insufficiencies (Black et al., 2013).

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Different interventions and policies have been recommended in an effort to reduce the
incidences of stunting. For instance, total breastfeeding for half a year. Other interventions
have been aimed at cultivating feeding practices for children and new born and providing
feeding education on feeding to improve linear growth (Prendergast and Humphrey, 2014).
Literature Review
The article’s research question is not stated expressly but can be implied from the objective,
which is: What are the causes of the failure in linear growth and interventions to avert or
control stunting? The authors use an analytical model to explore the topic of study. The
theoretical assumptions and conclusions of the article are that stunting is a global public
health problem which has previously been ignored. However, its global prevalence has led to
ambitious targets aimed at minimizing the incidence by 40% between 2010 and 2025. By
definition, stunting is the impairment in the linear growth of a child, and thus the article
examines possible determinants of stunting and the effect of the condition on the different
developmental stages of the child within the first 1000 days or two years.
The literature section has also identified the dependent variable to be stunted growth which is
measured using the height-for-age Z-score. In other words, a child is considered stunted if
“height for age” value is less than the double standard deviations below the median of the
population. The independent variables are the determinants of stunting which include
environmental factors such as the status of maternal nutrition, feeding practices, the incidence
of infections, cleanliness, and accessibility to healthcare. Others also include inadequate
breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices, repeated infections and nutritional
insufficiencies (Prendergast and Humphrey, 2014). However, the article doesn’t indicate how
these variables are measured. Additionally, there are no empirical conclusions since the study
has adopted an analytical model.