Jamaican studies in nutrition and child development, and their implications for national development

Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is diagnosed by comparing children’s anthropometric measurements with reference values for their age and sex. It is estimated that 177 million children under 5 years of age in developing countries have weights-for-age below two standard deviations of their expected value. Low weight-for-height (wasting) is less common but low height-for-age (stunting) is estimated to affect 35% of children between 24 and 59 months of age (Grant, 1991). If PEM has a detrimental effect on children’s mental development the implications are obviously enormous. In the present paper, studies which have addressed this problem in Jamaica over the last 15 years will be discussed. No attempt is made to review the international literature which has been reviewed recently (Simeon & Grantham-McGregor, 1990). First those studies concerning severe and mild to moderate PEM in young children will be discussed, then studies conducted in school-aged children.