Before revision:  The current benchmark for classifying stunting assumes a universal model of growth with height-for-age z-score (HAZ) cutoffs set by the World Health Organization. However, this model may hide hotspots of stunting if populations differ in HAZ in ways that are independent of undernutrition.
After revision:  The current benchmark for classifying stunting assumes a universal model of child growth. Such comparisons ignore population differences that are independent of undernutrition.