Stable isotope techniques used to study link between gut health and child growth (Arabic Edition)

A large proportion of the population in low- and middle-income countries lives in an environment characterized by poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, which contribute to growth retardation in children. This is due to adverse modification of intestinal processes, which leads to improper absorption of the nutrients necessary for growth and other functions. This disturbance, originally referred to as environmental enteropathy, is now widely called environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) to reflect its multifaceted manifestations and effects. A new IAEA-coordinated research project, approved in November 2016, is expected to provide a non-invasive, stable-isotopebased tool for diagnosis of EED in order to understand more clearly how this specific gut-related dysfunction affects the growth and health of children over longer periods of time in low- and middle-income countries. Nine countries from both developed and low-and middle-income settings are participating in this project, as technical experts in the case of developed countries and as research implementers in the case of low- and middleincome countries.