The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, has warned he will name and shame countries that fail to tackle the malnourishment and poor growth of their children, as part of a mission to rid the world of stunting.
Jim Yong Kim told the Guardian UK he would take to the podium at the World Economic Forum in Davos every year to point the finger at governments who failed to live up to promises to tackle a scourge affecting tens of millions of children.
Kim said stunting – which refers to children with a height considerably below the average for their age – was a humanitarian disaster but also an economic issue that held back nations. Malnutrition, the lack of stimulation and toxic environments take their toll on children’s brain development, modern neuroscience shows.
For the sake of their children and also their countries’ future prosperity in a world that increasingly needs an educated workforce with technological skills, governments must take action, said Kim, adding that equality of opportunity was meaningless when children started with such disadvantage. The problem is huge. In India 38.7% of children are stunted, in Pakistan 45% and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo around 43%.
Kim pointed to a World Bank-supported programme in Peru as an example of what is possible. It gave conditional cash transfers to the mothers of stunted children, enabling and educating them to give their children nutritious food and stimulation through play. Similar incentives were given to health clinics to support them. If the children did well, monthly payments continued. “It was the first time we tried this aggressive, what we called a demand-side intervention. They went from 28% in the mid-2000s to 14% in seven years,” he said.
“We’re going to say to every country in the world that has a problem with stunting, we’re ready to bring you the Peru formula. We’re willing to provide financing for these conditional cash transfers. Conditional cash transfers are great anyway. They help poor people. They stimulate the economy, they are a great thing to do.”