WHEN it comes to the discussion on health, Malaysians are quite familiar with the topic of diabetes, particularly type 2 (T2DM), seeing as it is the most common of the two types.
A child’s height should be between the 3rd percentile to the 97th percentile of the WHO growth chart – anywhere below the 3rd percentile is considered as short.
When it comes to children’s growth, it is a general perception that each child grows at his own pace and time.
What most people do not realise is that stunted growth is a major issue that affects a large proportion of the Malaysian population. In fact, it has been found that 2 out of 10 Malaysian children below the age of five are stunted. This figure is equivalent to a rate of stunting of about 21.8%. This, according to the 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS), was three times higher than the overall 7% prevalence in upper middle-income countries.