Malnutrition in India

A COUNTRY truly concerned about its development would put its children’s health on a higher priority than the GDP. For, population of over a billion can add strength to a country, only, if it is healthy and productive. If one in every three most malnourished children live in India, as is reported by UNISEF, it is a cause of worry. Because, such a populace can become a liability in the coming years, frustrating all growth plans. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has all the reasons to describe this alarmingly high rate of children’s malnutrition — which is 42 per cent — a ‘national shame.’ In fact, the survey conducted by Hyderabad based Naandi Foundation in the 100 most backward districts of BIMARU states and Jharkhand, with a sample size of over one lakh children — found that 59 per cent children have stunted growth, 42 per cent are underweight and about 11 per cent children between the age group of 0 to 5 suffer from wasting disease.

Sunken eyed, with swollen belly and shrivelled skin, these listless, lifeless children also suffer from learning deficiency, because they are fed on — if at all — on inadequate nutrients required for a healthy development of body and mind. The problem of children’s malnutrition also has its roots in the perpetually anaemic women who keep on producing children, in total disregard to their own health. Around one-third of all adult women are underweight in India.
Surveys conducted in the past have shown that malnutrition among children is lowest in Kerala, where literacy rate of women is the highest in the country. Malnutrition in the first five years of a child leads to serious, long-term consequences because it impedes motor, sensory, cognitive, social and emotional development. An educated mother not only understands the relevance of nutrition, she also practices hygiene and knows how to access health facilities. These issues stem in our social complexity; girls are more at risk of malnutrition than boys because of their lower social status, and they become mothers. The government has to address this issue at several levels.