Malnutrition in Young Children and their Mothers in Timor-Leste
According to the Timor-Leste Demographic and Health Survey, in 2016 about 46 percent of all children less than five years old are stunted, 24 percent are wasted, and 40 percent are anemic. Rural children are more at risk of being malnourished than...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/169421597377261674/Malnutrition-in-Young-Children-and-their-Mothers-in-Timor-Leste http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34374 |
| Summary: | According to the Timor-Leste Demographic
and Health Survey, in 2016 about 46 percent of all children
less than five years old are stunted, 24 percent are wasted,
and 40 percent are anemic. Rural children are more at risk
of being malnourished than urban children; boys are at
greater risk than girls of being malnourished in their first
two years of life; and thin mothers are at risk of having
wasted or thin children. Only children of mothers in the
richest wealth group and with the highest level of education
are at lower risk of being stunted, but the differences are
not large. Breastfeeding practices are better in poor and
less well-educated women than among the wealthiest and
best-educated women. The diversity of the complementary diet
of children was generally poor. The coverage of vaccinations
in Timor-Leste is generally low. The majority of households
drink safe water, but children in poor households that use
unprotected water sources are at greater risk of being
stunted. The short stature of mothers may take a generation
or more to eliminate. Delaying marriage and pregnancy until
the age of 20 years, as recommended by the World Health
Organization (WHO), could be an important intervention.
Interventions during pregnancy for thin, small women may
help prevent low-birthweight babies and malnutrition early
in childhood. |
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