TEHRAN – Thanks to the effective implementation of the national child care nutrition program, the prevalence of malnutrition among children under the age of five has decreased by 42 percent in the country, the deputy health minister, Alireza Raeisi, has said.

Highlighting the importance of the anthropometric indicators in assessing children’s nutritional status, the official said ‘weight for age’, ‘weight for height’, and ‘height for age’ are among the crucial indicators, the health ministry reported.

According to the latest report, the prevalence of being underweight, wasting, and stunting among children under the age of five is 4.3, 4.3, and 4.8 percent, respectively, which is in low prevalence classification according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

All the children covered by the program will be monitored regularly; in case any growth disorders or malnutrition signs are observed, they will be referred to a nutritionist at comprehensive health service centers, he added.

The child care nutrition program was launched in the fall of 2023 to improve the nutritional status of children through means testing and the cooperation of the Planning and Budget Organization and the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare.

The budget allocated to the program has increased from 14 trillion rials (about $14.5 million) in the year to March 2024 to 30 trillion rials in the current year. During the same period, the number of children has increased from 134,000 to 200,000.

The Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, identifies, collects, and checks children’s information based on priorities. Eligible children will be identified to be supported with the program.

UNICEF-WHO-WB Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates 2025 edition

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank's inter-agency team update the joint global and regional estimates of malnutrition among children under 5 years old every other year.

Child malnutrition estimates for the indicators of stunting, wasting, overweight, and underweight describe the magnitude and patterns of malnutrition aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 2.2.

The UNICEF-WHO-WB Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates inter-agency group updates the global and regional estimates of prevalence and numbers for each indicator every other year.

Key estimates for the 2025 edition include global, regional, and country trends from 2000-2024 for stunting and overweight, with sex-disaggregated estimates for the first time. For wasting and severe wasting, country estimates are based on available primary data sources (e.g., household surveys), and global and regional trends are presented for 2000-2024. Country progress assessments towards the 2030 targets are aggregated into regional summaries and included in the report.

The Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) released in 2025 reveal insufficient progress to reach the 2025 World Health Assembly (WHA) global nutrition targets and SDG target 2.2. Just over one quarter of all countries (28 per cent) are ‘on track’ to halve the number of children affected by stunting by 2030, and assessment of progress to date is not possible for 20 per cent of countries. Even fewer countries are expected to achieve the 2030 target of 3 per cent prevalence for overweight, with just 17 per cent of countries currently ‘on track’. Further, an assessment of progress towards the wasting target is not possible for over one-third of all countries.

More intensive efforts are needed for the world to achieve the global targets for stunting, wasting, and child overweight by 2030.

Gaps in the availability of data in some regions make it challenging to accurately assess progress towards global targets. Regular data collection is critical for monitoring and reporting on country, regional, and global progress on child malnutrition.

MT/MG