Research confirms children need adequate nutrition to learn

MEDIA RELEASE 31 May 2013

Chronically malnourished children are on average nearly 20% less literate than those who have a nutritious diet, according to ground-breaking new research out from Save the Children.

The study sheds new light on how missing out on nutritious food can impact on a child’s cognitive development, and its far-reaching effects on economic growth.

The research shows that not having a nutritious diet can severely impair a child’s ability to read and write a simple sentence and answer basic maths questions correctly – regardless of the amount and quality of schooling they have received.

Poor nutrition is driving a literacy and numeracy crisis in developing countries, and is also a huge barrier to further progress in tackling child deaths.

And it’s not just in developing countries that children are struggling to learn because they are hungry. Here in New Zealand we face a similar issue of making sure children have the nutrition they need to develop their full potential.

“It is pleasing to see that the Government has started to address the issue of children going hungry to school. We look forward to seeing how they will act in the future to combat the underlying issue of poverty in New Zealand,” said Heather Hayden, Save the Children New Zealand’s chief executive.

The research for Food for Thought was based on studies of thousands of children in four countries (Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam) and found that at the age of eight, children who are stunted due to chronic malnutrition are 19% more likely to make a mistake reading a simple sentence like “I like dogs” or “The sun is hot” than they would have been expected to do had they not been stunted.

Stunted children are 12.5% more likely to make a mistake writing a simple sentence and do 7% worse answering simple maths questions like “What is 8 minus 3?” than they would have been expected to do had they not been stunted.

• “When I was going to school I used to struggle with lessons because I had often gone without any food.” Gatluak, 10, South Sudan
• “Those children who come to school after having their breakfast do well. This is difficult for me as I don’t get enough to eat.” Shambel, 12, Ethiopia

Save the Children New Zealand has also heard from children themselves on the issue. The topic of hunger has been discussed by children and young people on Save the Children’s Values Exchange forum. When asked what the most pressing issue regarding New Zealand poverty was, more than 40% of children responding via the Values Exchange answered “hunger”.

Save the Children’s report also highlights the huge economic cost of not addressing chronic malnutrition.

ENDS

Food for thought report

Notes for Editors
• Recent findings suggest that the global economic impact of malnutrition could be up to $125 billion.

• Malnourished children could earn as much as 20 per cent less in adulthood.

• The scale of the global literacy crisis is well documented. In the latest assessment of global education, UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report found that as many as 250 million primary school aged children worldwide are unable to read or write by the time they reach grade 4.

• Save the Children has undertaken new analysis to estimate the costs to the global economy of the reduced potential that results from children being malnourished. The analysis estimates that stunted children earn 20% less in later life than non-stunted children. This is a much more conservative estimate than the 66% used by the Copenhagen Consensus panel, which was based on the most robust available longitudinal study to investigate the economic impacts of stunting. Our estimate of a 20% reduction in earnings is in line with other previous estimates of the impact of malnutrition on wages.

• Save the Children applies these estimated losses of income, on a country by country basis, to predicted per capita incomes. For all countries where data is available from the Euromonitor disposable income dataset, we have used this as an estimate of future earnings. Where income data is not available for countries, a proxy is created using the ratio of GNI per capita (working population – from the World Bank World Development Indicators) to disposable income for countries at the same income classification. We then calculate the lost earning potential for those children under 5 who are currently stunted. The results of this analysis suggest that by the time today’s stunted children reach working age, they will cost the global economy $125bn overall.

• The one in four of the world’s children are stunted figure is from (M de Onis, M Blossne and E Borghi, (2011) ‘Prevalence of stunting among pre-school children 1990-2020’, Growth Assessment and Surveillance Unit, Public Health Nutrition, 2011, Jul 14:1–7).

• In developing countries this figure is believed to be as high as one in three (R E Black, L H Allen, Z A Bhutta, et al (2008) ‘Maternal and child undernutrition: global and regional exposures and health consequences’, The Lancet, 2008, Jan 19, 371 (9608), 243–60).

Hear our Voices Values Exchange
Save the Children believes all young New Zealanders should be able to have their voices heard. Our online platform called Hear our Voices Values Exchange helps children and young people to take part and share their views on issues that matter to them.

We are encouraging all of New Zealand’s 7-to-18-year-olds to use the online tool, which will record and capture their thoughts and opinions. The findings will be used to inform policy and advance children’s interests.
Find out more: http://stc.vxcommunity.com

© Scoop Media