Guyana leads region with underweight babies – New UN Report

Nov 14, 2023 News

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Kaieteur News – A recent United Nations (UN) report on the Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition reveals that Guyana leads the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region in the prevalence of low birth weight.

Despite the LAC region having a lower incidence than the global estimate, Guyana stands out with the highest rate. Defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as birth weight below 2.5 kg (5.5 lb.), low birth weight is attributed to factors such as intrauterine growth restriction and prematurity. The report emphasizes the global significance of low birth weight, linking it to fetal and neonatal mortality, impaired growth, cognitive development issues, and an elevated risk of non-communicable diseases in later life.

According to the WHO, low birth weight is caused by intrauterine growth restriction, prematurity or both. It contributes to a range of poor health outcomes; for example, it is closely associated with fetal and neonatal mortality and morbidity, inhibited growth and cognitive development, and NCDs later in life. Low birth weight infants are about 20 times more likely to die than heavier infants.

Low birth weight is more common in developing than developed countries. However, data on low birth weight in developing countries is often limited because a significant portion of deliveries occur in homes or small health facilities, where cases of infants with low birth weight often go unreported. These cases are not reflected in official figures and may lead to a significant underestimation of the prevalence of low birth weight.

The Cleveland Clinic, a non-profit academic medical centre reports that there are two main causes of low birth weight: premature birth and fetal growth restriction.

It was explained that premature birth, or preterm birth, means your baby was born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. If your baby was born early, it means they spent less time growing and gaining weight in your uterus. A fetus gains a lot of its weight during the last few weeks of pregnancy.

For fetal growth restriction or intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) it was stated that it means your baby didn’t grow and gain the weight they should have before birth. Some infants have low birth weight because their parents are small. But for others, IUGR can occur because something slowed down or stopped their growth during pregnancy. This can occur due to issues with the placenta, your health or your baby’s condition.

While the LAC region’s overall prevalence in 2020 was 9.6 percent, lower than the global estimate of 14.7 percent, the regional figure increased slightly by 0.3 percentage points from 2000 to 2020. Subregion analysis places the Caribbean at 11.7 percent, Mesoamerica at 10.9 percent, and South America at 8.8 percent—all below the global estimate.

However, breaking down country-specific data for 2020 reveals that Guyana leads with a prevalence of 17.2 percent, followed by Suriname at 16.5 percent, Saint Lucia at 16.3 percent, and Trinidad and Tobago at 16.3 percent. In contrast, Chile (6.8 percent), Cuba (7.1 percent), and Argentina (7.4 percent) exhibit the lowest rates in the region.

Examining the period from 2000 to 2020, Peru shows the most improvement with a 2.7 percentage point reduction, followed by Nicaragua (1.3 points), and Panama and Jamaica with a 1.2 percentage point decrease each. On the flip side, the Dominican Republic (3.2 percentage points increase), Suriname (2.3 points), and Saint Lucia (1.9 points) saw the largest increases.

Despite these nuances, the majority of countries in the region experienced a higher prevalence of low birth weight in 2020 compared to 2000. Notably, only eight countries, including Bolivia, Ecuador, and Uruguay, demonstrated improvement during this period, as highlighted in the report.

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• Guyana, prematurity, Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition, UN Report, United Nations (UN)

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