Editor's Note

Abstract

The triad of diarrhoea, pneumonia and stunting^1,2 is the most deadly combination, especially early in a child’s life, and if a child survives it in the short term, he or she remains prone to its effects later in adult life.³ Globally, it is estimated that in children under the age of five years, pneumonia and diarrhoea are responsible for 29% of child deaths, amounting to 2-million children, 90% of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.¹ Global estimates indicate that 165-million children under five years of age (26%) were stunted in 2011. Although current estimates reflect a significant, and most welcome 35% decrease from the estimated 253-million children in 1990, stunting remains at stubbornly high levels globally, and equally so in South Africa.⁴ On average, approximately one in three children who are younger than five years of age is stunted in Africa and Asia, which accounts for 90% of the world’s stunted children.