Child Under nutrition in India

  The scale and the gender dimension of nutrition in India shows that while there is economic growth of nearly 10 per cent annually, rates of child under nutrition remain very high. According to NFHS-3, 48 per cent of children under the age of five are stunted due to chronic under nutrition, with 70 per cent being anemic. The nutrition situation of children is largely due to the situation of women. NFHS-3 indicates that 36 per cent of Indian women are chronically undernourished and 55 per cent are anemic.  Recent data form Bihar and Madhya Pradesh shows that girls represent up to 68 per cent of the children admitted to programmes for the severely malnourished. Child under nutrition is very much a matter of gender for three main reasons:

1. It affects women more than it affects men due to the specific nutrition needs of women during adolescence, pregnancy, and lactation;
2. Widespread nutrition deprivation among women perpetuates an inter-generational cycle of nutrition deprivation in children. Undernourished girls grow up to become undernourished women who give birth to a new generation of undernourished children;
3. Women are given the responsibility – but often not the means (empowerment) – to ensure optimal nutrition for their children. A recent study in Andhra Pradesh shows that women with higher autonomy (both financial and physical, for example – the freedom to go to the market) are less likely to have stunted children. 

To understand the fact of child under nutrition I was in search of a person affected due to this suddenly a name flashed up in my mind. Her name was Shipra Paul. It was not possible to meet her in person so I called up over the phone

This Conversation goes on as below:

Me: “Hello! Aunty how are you?”

Aunty: “I am fine beta.”

Me: “Aunty, I had applied for India fellow and luckily I made it to the final Round. For that I need to write an assignment regarding a social Issue so I picked up Child under nutrition in India so for that purpose I need to ask you some question.

Aunty: Yeah Beta you can. Feel free to ask anything.

Me: I know that you have a ten year old boy who is facing the same so what do u think how does it affect him or will affect him in future coming days.

Aunty: “I have seen that more than a third of all deaths in children aged five years or younger is attributable to under nutrition. So I used to fear all the time whenever he used to get to sick. After the birth of my child his father was very disappointed seeing the condition of my son and used to treat us in a bad manner my mother in law was happy hearing that I gave birth to a boy but after when she came to know about the problem that my son is facing she also started treating was in a bad manner. I had no other option I had adjustments as my choice so I made up my mind in that only. One day my asked me and my son to spend a month in my father house. I also agreed him without doubting him. Days passed on and everyday when I used to ask to my husband to pick up us he used to make excuses. This continued on for near about two months. So I finally decided to ask him what the matter is. He replied that his family is again arranging him marriage with someone else so he wants a divorce from me. It was the most disappointing moment I ever faced. I don’t know what to do, where to go staying at my father house was also not an option for me as my father was dead and the whole house use to run on my brother’s back and he was also facing some financial problems. But my brother somehow found out all this and things became easier for me and after I continued to stay there at my father house.”

Me: “Now can you tell me how it is affecting him.”

Aunty: My child often suffers from infection and common illnesses like diarrhea, pneumonia, measles, and malaria. It might put his future wife at a greater risk of pregnancy-related complications and even to death also. He do not perform as well in school as compared to their well-nourished peers. He might also make lower wages.

Me: Thank you aunty for speaking with me about this!

Collected Statistics: Source- UNICEF India

A number of emergent economies have successfully addressed their nutrition challenge. China reduced child under nutrition by more than half (from 25% to 8%) between 1990 and 2002; Brazil reduced child under nutrition by 60 percent (from 18% to 7%) from 1975 to 1989; and Vietnam reduced child under nutrition by 40 percent (from 45% to 27%) between 1990 and 2006. Here are some lessons can be learned from these countries’ experience:

1. Leadership at the highest level ensured that priority is given to child nutrition outcomes, with large investments in nutrition interventions and poverty alleviation strategies in the context of rapid economic growth.
2. Targeted nutrition interventions to prevent and treat undernutrition as part of a continuum of care, particularly among the most vulnerable children and women;
My Views on this issue are:

The prevention and treatment of child under nutrition in the first two years of life needs to become a national development priority.

A focus on women’s nutrition and their empowerment to make informed choices about the nutrition and well-being of their children will make of India a global leader. 

Now is the time to combine the existing technical knowledge with the political will to change the lives of millions of children and women in India. India can do it and we stand ready to support the government in this endeavor, and unite for children