UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

DEPARTMENT OF ESTATE MANAGEMENT

FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING, AND SURVEYING
UNIVERSITI CAWANGAN PERAK.

COURSE CODE: ELC 231

COURSE NAME: INTEGRATED LANGUAGE SKILLS III

Name of Group Members Matric No

NUR SYAZANA BINTI SHAHRIL 2021497616

NIK NURFARHANA SYAZWANIE BINTI NIK ZULKARNAIN 2021490964

Assignment Title : ARTICLE ESSAY

Due date of Assignment : 12 JANUARY 2023

Submitted to : ZARLINA BINTI MOHD ZAMARI

ESSAY

The article illustrates that children's health in Malaysia right now is starting to stunt. The
author is concerned and sympathetic over the news reports because the news reports address
the Problem of Stunting in Children. The author also mentions the causes and effects of stunting
in children in the future.

Firstly, the author found that variability in children’s growth until the age of five years were
caused by factors unrelated to genetics or ethnicity, and were more influenced by nutrition,
environment and healthcare differences. In this case, stunting can result in increased risk of
mortality and morbidity from infections such as diarrhea, a direct case of chronic malnutrition.
Through decreased appetite, direct nutrient loss in the stomach, and the rerouting of nutrients
away from growth and toward immune response, infections diminish nutrient intake. It is
possible for illness and malnutrition to spiral together as a result of this increased susceptibility
to infectious diseases.

Moreover, stunting has an effect on kids' educational outcomes as well. It has been noted
that children with stunts are less likely to enroll in school or enroll later. According to additional
research, children who were stunted as children completed less hours of school overall than
non-stunted kids. There is a lot of evidence linking stunting to poor cognitive development.
According to this research, stunted children typically exhibit delayed development of motor
abilities like crawling and walking as well as reduced inquisitive behavior. Unsurprisingly,
compared to kids who were never stunted, stunted kids performed worse in math, reading
comprehension, and receptive vocabulary. Stunting has a negative impact on a child's ability to
learn as well as their adult economic prospects.

The author further highlights that stunting can reduce a child's capacity for earning money in
the future. According to estimates, adults who were stunted as children make 20% less money
in their working years than people who were not stunted; each centimeter of adult height is
correlated with an increase in salary rates of almost 5%. Stunting children as a whole may have
significant negative social and economic effects on a nation's labor market and overall economic
growth.

We partially agree with the author that children's growth has a fact that will be affected by
their personal health and learning, especially children with special cases that are different from
normal children who will be given more attention. It is well known that children's statements are
stunted due to health problems. Malnutrition or lack of nutrients is one of the main causes of
growth problems among children around the world. Often, these children do not get a healthy
diet and lack certain nutrients such as iron, vitamin D, carbohydrates and proteins. However, we
feel that genetic problems are also one of the causes of stunted children. The authors mention
that the factors that influence children's growth are not related to genetics or ethics. Often,
children with small bodies have mothers and fathers who are also small. However, there are
children who experience growth problems due to abnormalities in their chromosomes that cause
them to suffer from Turner's syndrome or Down's syndrome. Health problems like this also affect
children's education. It is reported that they are less likely to enroll in regular schools and
stunted children have less school attendance than non-stunted children. The slow development
of motor skills such as crawling and walking in these children is stunted, caused by the
deficiencies they face. Unsurprisingly, stunted children were found to have lower math, reading
comprehension and vocabulary achievement than children who never stunted.

In summary, we affirm our position that genetic problems are also one of the causes of
stunted children that we should prioritize. However, I strongly believe that it is not the only factor
in the development of stunted children, because there are many other contributing factors.
Therefore, health or educational problems are not the only things that will affect them.