(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-28 15:16

DHAKA - Around 900 children die of malnutrition in Bangladesh every day mainly due to a poor dietary intake in the earliest months of their life, an eminent child specialist has said.

Related readings:  Malnutrition plagues 20% of babies in underdeveloped regions  20% of babies in poor regions suffer malnutrition  Malnutrition kills 6m children annually  India to eradicate malnutrition by 2015  China to combat malnutrition with new diet supplement

Prof. Dr M Qudrat-e-Khuda Talukder said on Sunday at a seminar that the consequences of insufficient nourishment continue into adulthood and are passed on to the next generations, giving rise to a wide array of effects, leading newspaper The Daily Star reported Monday.

The seminar on "The Lancet's Series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition" was organized by the International Center for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR'B). It was attended by health scientists, physicians, NGO officials and donor representatives, who also took part in the open discussion on health issues.

According to The Lancet, a world famous medical science magazine, more than 3.5 million mothers and under-5 children die unnecessarily each year globally due to the underlying cause of undernutrition.

Dr Tahmeed Ahmed of ICDDR'B said maternal and child nutrition interventions could prevent a quarter of child deaths in poor communities. "Bangladesh ranks the 4th position in the list of children suffering from malnutrition," he said.

According to the keynote presenters, at least 13 million children are born annually with Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR), 112 millions are underweight and 178 million under-5 children suffer from stunning.

"The high mortality and disease burden resulting from these nutrition-related factors make a compelling case for the urgent implementation of interventions to reduce or ameliorate their consequences," they said.