Malnutrition in children under five years of age

Objective. To analyze the trends of malnutrition in children under five years of age in Mexico from 1988 to 2023 and to discuss the possible causes of the observed trends. Materi-als and methods. Information about nutritional status and sociodemographic variables from 5 987 children under five years of age from the National Health and Nutrition Surveys during the period 2020-2023 was analyzed and compared with the results of previous surveys. Results. The prevalence of underweight, stunting, wasting, and overweight was 3.9%, 13.9%, 1.2%, and 7.7% in 2020-2023. The highest percentages of stunting were observed in indigenous vs. non-indigenous households (27.4%) (p>0.10), with severe food insecurity vs. food security (20.7%) (p=0.079), quintiles of very low vs. high well-being conditions (20.8%), and rural vs. urban areas (16.9%) (p>0.10). Only 37.4% of households with children under five years of age are beneficiaries of one or more social programs. Conclusions. Malnutrition plateaued in 2012 and overweight has increased. The situation of poverty in households with children under five years old, the increase in the complexity of Prospera and the reduction in fundiper beneficiary between 2012-2018, and since 2018 the lack of targeted programs and specific transfers to households with children under five years old, and the increase in the absence of basic health services, among others, could explain this situation.