La deuda pendiente del Ecuador: la erradicación de la desnutrición infantil

Abstract

Chronic malnutrition, or stunting for age, in early childhood, impairs the proper physical, cognitive and even social development of children. Despite the fact that child nutrition is a fundamental right, there are nearly 200 million children under the age of five who suffer from chronic malnutrition in the world and, in Ecuador, 23 % of them suffer from it. This research identifies the determinants of chronic malnutrition in children under five years of age, through the estimation of a probit model, using data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT) (2018). The main results indicate that children who belong to the lowest economic strata and those who self-identify as indigenous have a higher risk of suffering from chronic malnutrition.