Fear, violence, inequality, and stunting in Guatemala

Stunting is defined by the public health community as a length- or height-for-age <-2 SD of a growth standard or reference and is claimed to be caused by poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation.

Stunting is common at all income levels in middle- and low-income countries. At the higher income levels, stunting is unlikely to be caused by nutrient deficiency or infectious disease.

In Guatemala, 17% of <5-year-olds in the highest family income quintile are stunted. Guatemala has a history of violence from armed conflict, current-day social and economic inequalities, government corruption, and threat of kidnapping for the wealthiest families.

The high level of persistent violence creates an ecology of fear, an extreme range of inequalities in Social-Economic-Political-Emotional resources, and biosocial stress that inhibits skeletal growth and causes stunting for people of all income levels.