The United Nations foundation for children i. e. UNICEF said Wednesday, there were nearly 200-million children in developing countries, who due to poor nutrition in their early years were suffering from stunted growth and health problems.

However, last year the percentage of Asian children with retarded growth fell to 30% from 44% in 1990, while it was 34% from 38% over the same period for African children.

According to UNICEF’s report, despite declining rates, 195-million children in developing countries who are under the age of 5-years old are stunted in growth, mainly because adequate nutrition is not received during the critical period i. e. between conception and second birthdays.

Poor physical health and slower mental development, some of the symptoms exhibited by undernourished children are widespread in countries like India and Afghanistan, problems which undermine the country’s ability to improve their economies and eradicate poverty.

Under nutrition makes the children more vulnerable to illnesses, with over one third of the children dying from pneumonia, diarrhoea and other illnesses, and who had they not been under- nourished could have survived.

Over 90% of the developing world’s children who face stunted growth belong to the continents of Africa and Asia, with roughly 60.8-million of them in India.

The countries with the highest prevalent rate of stunted growth amongst children under-5 include Afghanistan (59%), Yemen (58%), Guatemala and East Timor (both 54%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (46%) and North Korea (45%).

India, the second most-populous country in the world continues to have a high rate of under-5 children suffering from retarded growth, despite falling to 43% from 52% in 1992-1993.

According to UNICEF, stunted growth can rarely be corrected, though programmes that have improved access to iodized salt and vitamin A supplements in Africa and Asia have seen some improvement in some countries, resulting in a reduction in infant and child mortality.