ABSTRACT
According to current estimates, 23" of the world's children under 5 years of age are stunted, a condition that is measured using short height-for-age. Globally, an estimated 50 million children are wasted, an indicator of thinness that is strongly associated with mortality. Intrauterine growth restriction is a key risk factor for stunting, wasting, and underweight in childhood. The estimated global prevalence of iodine deficiency and zinc deficiency is 29" and 17", respectively. Unfortunately, limited data are available on the global prevalence of folate deficiency. One of the main epidemiological drivers for the focus on the first 1,000 days was the realization that height-for-age z-scores in countries throughout the world plummet during the first 24 months of life. Starting around the time of conception, the first 300 days span a window that encapsulates the time of an average human female pregnancy, as well as the first several weeks of life.
