Chapter 3 Additional World Health Assembly Nutrition Indicators
3.3 PREVALENCE OF LOW BIRTHWEIGHT
Low birthweight is defined as a baby who weighs less than 2.5 kilograms at birth – and can refer to babies born at term or pre-term. Low birthweight is a risk factor for neonatal mortality, stunting and illness, with more than 80 percent of neonatal deaths occurring in low-birth-weight infants. The prevalence of low birthweight in Asia and the Pacific was 17.8 percent in 2015, higher than the global average of 14.6 percent. The prevalence of low birthweight was highest in Southern Asia (Table 11), with 26.4 percent, followed by South-eastern Asia at 12.3 percent, Oceania excluding Australia and New Zealand at 9.9 percent, and Eastern Asia at 5.1 percent. The WHA target is to achieve a 30 percent reduction in the number of infants born with a weight lover than 2 500 gram by the year 2025.3 Most countries have made progress since 2000, with several countries reducing the prevalence by more than 3 percentage points, notably, Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Maldives, Nepal and Thailand (Figure 10). 3WHO. 2014. Global Nutrition Targets 2025: Low birth weight policy brief. Geneva, WHO. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/149020/WHO_NMH_NHD_14.5_eng.pdf?ua=1
TABLE 11.
Prevalence of low birthweight (percent)
2000
2005
2010
2012
2014
2015
World
17.5
16.4
15.3
15.0
14.7
14.6
Asia and the Pacific
27.0
25.0
23.4
22.8
22.3
22.1
Eastern Asia
5.8
5.4
5.2
5.1
5.1
5.1
Oceania excluding Australia and New Zealand
10.4
10.2
10.1
10.0
9.9
9.9
South-eastern Asia
13.7
13.0
12.5
12.4
12.3
12.3
Southern Asia
32.3
29.9
27.9
27.2
26.6
26.4
Note: Please refer to Annex IV for the country coverage of this report. In particular, Central Asia and Western Asia are not included. Source: UNICEF & WHO. 2019. UNICEF-WHO joint low birthweight estimates. In: United Nations Children’s Fund. New York, USA and Geneva, Switzerland. Cited 28 April 2020. www.unicef.org/reports/UNICEF-WHO-low-birthweight-estimates-2019
FIGURE 10.
Prevalence of low birthweight in Asia and the Pacific by country
The estimates of PoU and FIES and the figures on child malnutrition and obesity show that the region is way off-track from achieving SDG2 targets by 2030. The data on adult obesity, anaemia among women and prevalence of low birthweight show up the urgent need for increased access to a healthy diet and reducing the heavy marketing of unhealthy options. A balanced diet is one that provides different kinds and amounts of nutrients required for good nutrition and health. A healthy diet is the same for all people although its exact make-up will vary across countries and societies based on traditional and cultural characteristics. The cost and affordability of a healthy diet are and remain critical factors in determining if the Asia and the Pacific region can improve its nutritional indicators.
