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42 per cent of Indian children are underweight
Jan 11, 2012 (The Hindu): A new study based on a survey of the height and weight of more than one lakh children across six States has
"Despite impressive growth in our GDP, the level of under-nutrition in the country is unacceptably high" said the Indian prime minister
found that as many as 42 per cent of under-fives are severely or moderately underweight and that 59 per cent of them suffer from moderate to severe stunting, meaning their height is much lower than the median height-for-age of the reference population.
The findings – contained in the Hunger and Malnutrition (HUNGaMA) report by the Naandi Foundation – were described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a “national shame” at a release function here on Tuesday. Despite impressive growth in India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in recent years, the level of under-nutrition is unacceptably high, he said.
With the government already under attack for drafting a weak food security Bill, the latest anthropometric confirmation ofthe link between poverty, food insecurity and nutrition is likely to increase pressure on the UPA to be more generous with the poor.
The report also found that of the stunted children, about half are severely stunted and about half of all children are underweight or stunted by the time they are two years. However, the number of underweight children has decreased from 53 to 42 per cent in the past seven years – the last study on the subject was done in 2004.
Dr. Singh said, “This 20 per cent decline in malnourishment in the last seven years is better than the rate of decline reported in the National Family Health Survey-III. However, what concerns me is that 42 per cent of our children are still underweight. This is an unacceptably high occurrence.”
“POSITIVE CHANGE”
Conducted across 112 rural districts, the survey found “positive change for child nutrition in India is happening, including in the 100 Focussed Districts.”
The 100 Focus Districts are located across Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh – states which perform the worst on child nutrition.
The survey notes that the prevalence of malnutrition is significantly higher among children from low-income families. It found that children from Muslim or SC/ST households generally had worse nutrition indicators.
Birth weight is an important risk-factor for child malnutrition, says the report.
The prevalence of underweight in children born with a weight below 2.5 kg is 50 per cent, while that among children born with a weight above 2.5 kg is 34 per cent.
LOW AWARENESS
The survey found that awareness among mothers about nutrition is low — “92 per cent mothers had never heard the word malnutrition.”
Highlighting the negligence shown towards girl children even in their early childhood, the report says the nutrition advantage girls have over boys in the first months of life seems to be reversed over time as they grow older.
According to the survey, the mothers’ education level also determines children’s nutrition.‘Giving colostrum to newborn not commonly practised’
The Hunger and Malnutrition (HUN-GaMA) report says that giving colostrum to the newborn and exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months of a child’s life are not commonly practised.
“About 51 per cent of the mothers did not give colostrum to the newborn soon after birth and 58 per cent mothers fed water to their infants before six months,” notes the survey.
It emphasises need to provide better services through anganwadi centres. While a total of 96 per cent of villages had their own anganwadi centres, only 61 per cent operate in pucca buildings.
“The anganwadi services accessed by the largest proportion of mothers [86 per cent] is immunisation; 61 per cent of anganwadi centres had dried rations available and 50 per cent provided food on the day of survey; only 19 per cent of mothers reported that the anganwadi centre provides nutrition counselling to parents,” it says.
Dr. Singh said the country had not succeeded in reducing malnutrition levels fast enough. “Though the Integrated Child Development Scheme continues to be our most important tool to fight malnutrition, we can no longer rely solely on it.”
