Serious questions are being raised over the government (both state and centre) about their attitude towards child care, after the recent tragedy in Bihar where more than 20 children died due to alleged food poisoning. About six years ago, when 125 children died in four tribal districts of Madhya Pradesh, the state authorities went into denial mode. The deaths were caused to pneumonia and diarrhoea. Since then, child mortality has continued to be high and, one would have presumed, a national shame.
In, Attapady, Kerala which is a tribal belt, the government was battling sex scandals and scams. Rival politicians took the ruling United Democratic Front (udf) to the cleaners. Yet, when the CAG report on malnutrition was tabled in April this year, it didn’t stir them up. Nutrition is very important for a child’s growth. In countries like India, nutrition experts will tell you, a child’s first two years are critical: it’s vulnerable to death from a host of causes. If it is malnourished, its immune system will collapse under the onslaught of disease. If the mother is malnourished, chances are the child will be born malnourished. It’s a cycle difficult to correct: the family circumstances into which the child is born usually mean it won’t get the nutrients that will make the difference.
According to the National Family Health Service survey (NFHS-3) which came out in 2006, the proportion of women who are too thin—underweight and malnourished—is particularly high in Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand (all 40-45 per cent). Anaemia is pervasive among women aged 15-49 years. Even in states with low general levels of anaemia, such as Kerala and Punjab, as many as one-third of the women are anaemic. The survey used three indicators to gauge nutritional levels in children: height for age; weight for height; weight for age. Of children under five years, 48 per cent were stunted (short for their age); 20 per cent were wasted (below weight for their height); and 43 per cent were underweight for their age.
Undernutrition is substantially higher in rural areas. Even in urban areas, 40 per cent of children are stunted and 33 per cent underweight. SC/ST children fare badly by all three indicators; among them, wasting is as high as 28 per cent. Wake up Government!
