Following are some excerpts from the site < http://www.cini.org.uk/child_malnutrition.html> making some unconventional claims on child malnutrition in India.
*[I. The Status is just Appalling.]* *An estimated forty per cent of the world’s severely malnourished children under five live in India.* This is a shameful stain on a country that, with China, will be one of the great economic powerhouses of the coming century. India has made huge strides in the past decades in warding off the spectre of famine. The Green Revolution should have gone a long way to tackling child malnutrition, Norman Borlaug’s creation of dwarf spring wheat strains in the 1960s meant that India could feed itself at last. Better farming techniques and food security policies have made mass starvation a thing of the past. Yet the problem of child malnutrition remains critical, and the reasons it deserves concerted attention are many. Besides the obvious moral obligation to protect the weakest in society, the economic cost to India is – and will be – staggering, and the global food crisis this year can only be significantly worsening the problem1,2. Moreover, statistics from as recently as 2006 may well underestimate the problem, as rampant food price inflation takes its toll on many millions of Indian families. ... - 47 percent of India’s children below the age of three years are malnourished (underweight).3 The World Bank puts the number – probably conservatively – at 60 million.4 This is out of a global estimated total of 146 million. - 47 percent of Indian children under five are categorised as moderately or severely malnourished.5 - South Asia has the highest rates – and by far the largest number – of malnourished children in the world. - The UN ranks India in the bottom quartile of countries by under-1 infant mortality (the 53rd highest), and under-5 child mortality (78 deaths per 1000 live births).6 According to the 2008 CIA fact book, 32 babies out of every 1,000 born alive die before their first birthday.7 - At least half of Indian infant deaths are related to malnutrition, often associated with infectious diseases. - Malnutrition impedes motor, sensory, cognitive and social development8, so malnourished children will be less likely to benefit from schooling, and will consequently have lower income as adults. - The most damaging effects of under-nutrition occur during pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s life. - These damages are irreversible, making dealing with malnutrition in the first two year crucially important.9 - A close reading of available statistics shows the problem to be far from uniform.10 *[II. (Partial) Disconnect between Poverty and Malnourishment]* *Myth: India’s low per-capita income is the major underlying cause.* In fact, the correlation between per-capita income and child nutrition is a tenuous one: 28 out of 37 Sub-Saharan African countries have lower per-capita income than India, and – as said above – most have lower levels of child malnutrition.12 Other countries too have both lower per-head wealth and lower child malnutrition, Mongolia, Vietnam and Haiti being just three. And within India itself, there is no discernible correlation. Manipur reported a per capita income of Rs 8114 in 1998 and a malnutrition rate of 28 per cent.13 Gujurat, on the other hand, reported a per capita income of Rs 16,251 and a rate of 45 per cent, according to the Women’s Feature Service.14 The percentage of underweight children in Gujarat (one of India’s richest states) increased from 45 per cent at the start of the decade to 47 per cent in 2006.15 Therefore, despite reporting and measurement differences and political factors inherent in reporting levels, one thing is clear: malnutrition is not predominantly caused by low income. ... In fact, there is no obvious linkage between levels of child malnutrition and income poverty. 26 per cent of India’s population lives below the poverty line, yet 46 percent of children under three are malnourished. Most Sub-Saharan countries report higher levels of income poverty than India even though levels of child malnutrition in India are consistently higher. And within India itself, in 1993-4 in Haryana, 35 per cent of children were reportedly malnourished with 25 per cent of the population under the poverty line.16 In Assam, 36 per cent of children were malnourished, yet a full 41 per cent lived in poverty. In other words, although the destitute poor have higher rates of malnutrition than the rich, poverty itself is not a sole cause. And the quantity of food required to adequately feed an infant is affordable for practically all families – half a chapatti or half a banana or a boiled potato or a bowl of dal.17 *[III. The Main Cause]* Is the problem specific to India? No: In fact, it’s part of a wider regional anomaly. Fifty per cent of children across South Asia suffer from malnutrition. So is it therefore cultural in origin? In 1996, India’s pre-eminent physician-nutritionist, Professor Ramalingaswami, along with Drs. Jonsson and Rohde, wrote an article entitled “The Asian Enigma”. At the time, there was insufficient prior research, and no clear consensus on the underlying causes of malnutrition. After considering various theories – including high rates of vegetarianism in South Asia – the researchers placed the blame predominantly on the extremely low social status of women relative to men in South Asia (compared, say, to Sub-Saharan Africa).21 .... The status of women is readily linked to child nutrition. A malnourished mother will give birth to a baby of low birth weight – the single most important predictor of child survival.22 Common practices such as allowing all the males of the household to eat first goes some way to explaining the 83 per cent rate of iron deficiency anaemia among Indian women (compared to 40 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa). This problem is compounded by the need for pregnant women to be cared for, by ensuring proper nutritional diet and reducing the burden of work during gestation. Child rearing is usually the predominant responsibility of mothers. In other words, a pregnant mother who has children already suffers an even greater risk of a malnourished child after birth. And according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, a woman’s control over resources within the household also affects her children. Numerous studies have shown that income or assets controlled by women are more likely to be spent on items that benefit children and themselves, such as food, clothing and health care, than assets controlled by men.24 Very revealing is the statistic provided by the NFHS-3 that malnutrition among Indian children below the age of three born to illiterate mothers (55 per cent) is more than twice the level (26 per cent) reported among mothers who have completed more than ten years of schooling. As a mother’s education per se cannot conceivably affect the health of a child, this number speaks a great deal: both child malnutrition and education are strongly correlated with women’s social status. ... The link between women’s status and child malnutrition took a long time to be empirically established. The IFPRI has been running one of the most significant modern studies on effective strategies to reduce malnutrition. The IFPRI – along with the Department of International Health at Emory University – sought to address the shortfall in empirical research with a 2003 study.25 The study brought together data from 36 developing countries, spanning over 100,000 children under the age of three, and a similar number of mothers. The study identified three factors contributing to the nutritional gap between Sub-Saharan Africa and India. The most important was women’s status, followed by sanitation and urbanisation.26 No effective solution will be complete without a real effort to address women’s low social status in – particularly rural – India. This issue – so often framed in ‘rights’ discourse, is integral for health promotion, and human rights and health advocacy groups would do well to recognise their overlapping objectives and to work together. Another clue lies in low birthweights. Birthweights below 2,500 grams have been found to be very closely associated with poor growth – not only during infancy but throughout childhood. Estimates for India reveal that 20 to 30 per cent of babies fall into this category. The underlying health and nutritional status of the mother – also closely tied to social status – is the main cause of low birthweight. According to NFHS-3, close to a third of Indian women suffer from Chronic Energy Deficiency, and have a Body Mass Index27 of less than 18.5. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
