The research cautions against a common
nutrition strategy, says a single plan alone can’t work
across the country.
New Delhi: Much to India’s shame and despite three decades of
state-sponsored child welfare schemes, every second toddler in the
country is underweight, indicating insufficient nutrition, says a new
study.
As many as 46% of Indian children below the age of three are
underweight even after three decades of the government implementing the
Integrated Child Development Services, or ICDS, scheme, according to a
research by New Delhi and Jaipur-based Educational Resource Unit, or
ERU.
“You cannot tackle malnutrition in a parallel, ministerial way,” said
Vimala Ramachandran, who conducted the study. “Each individual ministry
is like a horse with blinkers, looking only at its own concerns. You
need a broader, more coordinated approach to this problem.”
Ramachandran based her analysis on India’s third National Family Health
Survey (NFHS-3), which released its results in 2005-06. “Children’s
nutritional status in India has improved slightly since NFHS-2 by some
measures, but not by all measures,” the survey had said.
“Children under three…are less likely to be too short for their age
today than they were seven years ago, which means chronic
undernutrition is less widespread, but they are slightly more likely to
be too thin for their height, which means acute undernutrition is still
a major problem in India,” the survey had acknowledged.
Ramachandran’s research busts some popular myths about malnourishment.
“The biggest myth is that malnutrition happens because there is no food
available,” she said. “Instead, it’s lack of time or proper care on the
part of the parents that leads to infrequent feeding. Another myth is
that only children from the poorest-of-the-poor sections of society
suffer from malnutrition. In fact, there are malnourished children in
the last 50-60% of the population, when ranked according to the wealth.”
She quoted, as a part of her research, a 2007 study by Prema
Ramachandran of the New Delhi-based Nutrition Foundation of India.
The study’s counterintuitive finding on nutritional status across India
further supports ERU analysis.
For instance, Prema Ramachandran had found that Karnataka, despite
being considmore prosperous than Andhra Pradesh, had a higher
percentage of underweight children.
On the other hand, states in the North-East, such as Arunachal Pradesh,
Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, had some of the lowest child
malnutrition rates in the country.
“Some states, such as Punjab and Haryana, are prosperous, but they are
not exhibiting commensurate improvements in nutrition levels,” said
Prema Ramachandran.
“They may have Honda City cars, but their women don’t breastfeed
enough, or most women still deliver at home...there is inadequate natal
care. It’s very wrong to put economics and poverty as drivers of
undernutrition.”
Factors such as water, sanitation and public health, too, play a role,
says study. “While there is recognition of the need for a multi-pronged
approach, departmental turfs have been impossible to overcome,” Vimala
Ramachandran said.
“As a result, in a village or urban slum, the people in charge of water
and sanitation, public health, fair price shops, child nutrition,
immunisation, treatment of illnesses and so on, have not worked
together.”
She cited one example of ministerial parallel processing. India’s
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or NREGA, mandates that if
“the number of children below the age of six years accompanying the
women working at any site are five or more, provisions shall be made to
depute one of such women (sic) worker to look after such children.”
“But how often does that happen, how often is that enforced?” Vimala
Ramachandran asked.
“If children are left unattended by their labourer parents, they are
not fed every three hours, as they should be, and they wind up eating
mud. So, that becomes an undernutrition problem, even though NREGA and
its mandates fall under the ministry of rural development.”
The research also cautions against a single, Indiawide nutrition
strategy. “India is a land of tremendous diversity. One strategy or one
programme template cannot work across the country.”
“Given different social and economic situations, and different
environmental and ecological terrain, and given different political and
administrative culture, what India really needs is local and very
context-specific planning.”
ERU, a private consulting group, conducts research studies,
evaluations, and reviews in primary education, women’s education, rural
livelihoods, social security, primary health care and women’s health.
http://www.livemint.com/2008/04/08222914/46-of-Indian-children-below-3.html
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