Teen pregnancy can cause malnourished child.
Stunting and underweight prevalence were 10 per cent higher in children born to adolescent mothers than in children born to adult mothers though it can result malnourished childrens. "Reducing adolescent pregnancy in India can hasten our progress towards achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those related to poverty, health, nutrition, general wellbeing, equity, and education".
"Researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) have found that children born to teenage mothers were underweight as compared to children born to older women and also our study sheds empirical light on pathways between teenage pregnancies and child undernutrition. People have talked about these pathways before, but this data allowed us to put some numbers to those pathways. "
The strongest links between adolescent pregnancy and child stunting were through the mother's education, her socio-economic status and her weight. Compared to adult mothers, teenage mothers were shorter, more likely to be underweight and anaemic, less likely to access health services and had poorer complementary feeding practices. They also had lower education, less bargaining power and lived in poorer households with poorer sanitation.
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