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. 2020 Feb 11;17(4):1129.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17041129.

Child Nutrition Trends Over the Past Two Decades and Challenges for Achieving Nutrition SDGs and National Targets in China

Bo Yang  1 , Xin Huang  1 , Qin Liu  1 , Shenglan Tang  2   3 , Mary Story  4 , Yiwen Chen  1 , Maigeng Zhou  5
Affiliations

Child Nutrition Trends Over the Past Two Decades and Challenges for Achieving Nutrition SDGs and National Targets in China

Bo Yang et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: The objectives of the current study were to identify the trends in child nutrition, the gaps in achieving child nutrition-related goals, and implications for program and policy options for the Chinese government.

Methods: Eight child nutrition-related indicators from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and China's national nutrition plans, and two datasets, Global Burden of Disease 2016 and Chinese National Nutrition and Health Surveillance, were used in our analysis.

Results: Over the past 26 years, the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight for children under 5 years was reduced by 58.7%, 53.4%, and 69.2%, respectively. Overweight for children aged 1-4 years increased 88.9% and obesity increased 2.14 times. Exclusive breastfeeding of newborns (7-28 days) was stable, at about 30%. We estimated child wasting would be 3.0% lower than the target of 5.0% based on predictive values for meeting the SDGs in 2025. The number of stunted children under five years would be reduced by 39.7%, while overweight would increase 2.2% throughout China.

Conclusion: These results highlight the urgent need for targeted policies and interventions to reduce child stunting and overweight and increase exclusive breastfeeding to improve child health and meet the SDG targets and China's national goals.

Keywords: Children; China’s national plans; Malnutrition; Nutrition; SDGs.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The estimated rate of Chinese wasting children and SDG target in 2025 (%).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The estimated number of Chinese stunted children and SDG target in 2025.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The estimated rate of Chinese overweight children and SDG target in 2025 (%).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The estimated exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) rate of Chinese children and SDG target in 2025 (%).
Figure 5
Figure 5
The estimated rate of Chinese underweight children and national nutrition target in 2020 (%).
Figure 6
Figure 6
The estimated rate of Chinese stunting children and national nutrition target (%).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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