Policy Brief on Stunting of Under 5 Children in Kenya

Abstract

Stunting is the impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation. Stunting before children are 2 years leads to irreversible diminished brain and physical development, poor cognitive outcomes and economic consequences, and reduced productivity at individual, household, and community levels. The Cost of Hunger in Africa-Kenya Report (COHA, 2019) revealed that the total effect of stunting on health, education and productivity was Ksh 373.9 billion (6.9% of GDP) loss due to child undernutrition. The government has put in place various policies to address malnutrition, but the prevalence of stunting is still high. This policy brief seeks to initiate multi-sector dialogue among agencies that have a role in nutrition to analyse data and generate evidence to inform policy and programme interventions focusing on high impact nutrition interventions for reduction of stunting