Contact: Laura M. Kelley
lkelley@jhsph.edu
410-955-5439
Child Health Research Project
Low birth weight affects 50% of all children in South Asia
A gathering of scientists announced today that nearly 50% of all children in South Asia (India, Bangladesh and Pakistan) are born weighing less than 2.5 kilograms. Low birth weight contributes to widespread malnutrition, predisposes the children to infections and other health problems and is estimated to cause up to 40% of early infant mortality.
Dr. Caroline Fall of Southampton Hospital's Department of Epidemiology in the UK explained that low birth weight also predisposes to cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in adulthood. Dr. Fernando Barros of the Pan American Health Organization showed the results of a 15-year study in Brazil demonstrating that low birth weight children remained significantly shorter in stature and less heavy than their normal birth weight counterparts.
The international meeting, supported by UNICEF, the World Bank, and USAID's Child Health Research Project is taking place at the ICDDR, B: Centre for Health and Population Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Dr. Sultana Khanum of the World Health Organization enumerated the key determinants of low birth weight, which include:
In his opening address, Al-Haaj Janab Salahuddin Yusuf, Minister for Health and Family Welfare of Bangladesh stressed the government's commitment to reduce low birth weight and pledged support through legislative measure and national health initiatives.
One such initiative is the Bangladeshi Integrated Nutrition Project (BINP). The BINP utilizes several strategies to prevent and treat the consequences of low birth weight. Community nutrition promoters monitor the monthly growth of children between the ages of 6 and 23 months. Children who are severely malnourished or whose growth is faltering enter a 90-day supplementation program. To prevent low birth weight, newly married adolescent women are counseled to delay childbearing for 2 years, and malnourished pregnant women receive supplements providing 600 calories per day until 5 months after the birth of their children. The program expects that supplementation during pregnancy will result in significant improvements in birth weight.
The release is based on results of a conference entitled : Low Birth Weight: Causes, Epidemiology and Interventions in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The research was funded by UNICEF, World Bank and USAID.
For further information contact Dr. Ishtiaque Zaman, Phone: 410-988-1692, ishtiaq@icddrb.org