CLAIM: We committed to reducing stunting and Zimbabwe has made so much progress because we have moved from 23.5 percent to 17 percent.
SOURCE: Minister Dr Anxious Masuka
VERDICT: Inconclusive
Speaking at the Abidjan High Level Meeting on the Theme of the African Year of Nutrition 2022, Zimbabwe’s Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka said that the country has reduced stunting from 23.5 percent to 17 percent.
The accurate definition of stunting according to WHO stands for the “height for age” value to be lower than two standard deviations of the World Health Organisation Child Growth Standards.
Stunting, the condition of being too short for one’s age, is a marker for several impacts of undernutrition and is caused by a combination of nutritional and other factors that simultaneously undermine the physical and cognitive development of children and increases their risk of dying from common infections.
Stunting is one of the leading measures used to assess childhood malnutrition.
It indicates that a child has failed to reach their growth potential as a result of disease, poor health and malnutrition.
Stunting and other forms of undernutrition early in life may also predispose children to overweight and non communicable diseases later in life.
Some of those consequences include poor cognition and educational performance, low adult wages, lost productivity and, when accompanied by excessive weight gain later in childhood, an increased risk of nutrition-related chronic diseases in adult life.
Globally, the prevalence of stunting among children under five years of age has declined steadily, from an estimated 33.1 percent (201.6 million) in 2000 to 22.0 percent (149.2 million) in 2020.
Common Reasons for Delayed Growth
Poor maternal nutrition: A child requires utmost care after birth and while the child is in the mother’s womb. Poor maternal nutrition and insufficient consumption of breast milk are considered as important reasons that result in stunted growth in children.
Sanitation: The household’s sanitation is considered as a factor that can affect the growth of children. Poor sanitation facilities often lead to a lack of appetite and breakout of diseases like diarrhea which consequently leads to stunted growth in children.
Stunting malnutrition: This is considered as one of the major reasons that cause stunted growth in children. Children need proper nutrients and the lack of it adversely affects the growth of children. It is due to this that cases of stunted growth in children are mostly found in poverty-stricken areas and family.
Hereditary: Hereditary reasons have found to influence stunted growth in some children. A family that shares a history of delayed growth often continues to produce children who are not sufficiently developed with respect to the physical structure.
Use of drugs by mother: Stunted growth in children is as much reliant on external circumstances as it is on the mother. If the mother has a history of using illegal drugs, alcohol, or smoking for a long period of time it has often been seen to result in underdeveloped children.
Feeding Practices: Inadequate feeding, lack of vital nutrients, poor calorie intake can lead to stunted growth in infants. Minimum requirements should be met in the diet in proper frequency to avoid malnutrition.
Verification
According to the 2018 Zimbabwe National Nutrition Survey, which assessed the nutritional status in children 0–59 months of age, focusing particularly on the prevalence of stunting, underweight, wasting and obesity especially in children 6 – 24 months, the National prevalence rate for stunting in the country was 26.2 percent. This was a marked decrease from the 2010 levels of 33.8 percent.
The ZEPARU policy brief on The Multidimensional Risk of Stunting Amongst Children Under Five Years in Zimbabwe, published in February 2021, puts the 2019 stunting prevalence rate at 23.5 percent. It states the source of this as the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS).
The same figure of 23.5 percent for 2019 is used by the World Bank here and the Global Nutrition Report here.
By 2020, the World Bank figure had decreased to 23 percent.
UNICEF puts the stunting prevalence rate at 24 percent here.
The latest survey carried out on stunting is the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment
Committee report in 2022. This is a yearly assessment looking at the country’s rural areas.
The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) undertook the 2022 Rural Livelihoods Assessment (RLA) in fulfilment of Commitment 6 of the Food and Nutrition Security Policy (FNSP). This is part of the Government’s ‘commitment to collecting, collating and disseminating up to date, accurate and disaggregated food and nutrition security information’.
According to this report, all the provinces had stunting rates surpassing the WHO threshold of 20%, with Matabeleland North (35.3%) recording the highest and Masvingo (22.9%) having the lowest.
ZimVac puts the national stunting rate at 26.8 percent for 2019 and 26.7 percent in 2022.
In a 2022 mid year Nutrition Cluster report, approximately 74,267 children under age 5 are said to have been affected by acute malnutrition, including at least 38,425 facing severe acute malnutrition (SAM). More than 1,200,000 children between 6 and 23 months had shown poor dietary practices; poor quality diets and feeding practices put them at risk of stunted growth.
Conclusion
The claim by the Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka, that the country has reduced stunting from 23.5 percent to 17 percent, has been rated as inconclusive. While there was more than one source referring to the national stunting rate at 23.5 percent in 2019, there were none that quoted 17 percent for the current year. The only survey with 2022 figures was the ZimVac report showing the stunting rate at 26.7 percent. However, it puts the 2019 rate at 26.8 percent, which is in contrast to other numerous sources with 23.5 percent for that year. As a result, it is concluded that there is not sufficient evidence in the public domain to rate the claim as either true or false.
FactCheckZW will update the report if new evidence comes to light.
