Open Access
Subscription Access
Open Access
Subscription Access
Challenge of Under-Nutrition:Indian Scenario
Subscribe/Renew Journal
Globally one in three mal-nourished children lives in India. The study focuses on the extent and proximate determinants of under-nutrition in India and seeks action strategies. For this, NFHS–3, nation-wide sample survey data of 56,428 children below five years is used. Three indices of physical growth quantify the nutritional status of children, i.e., stunting-chronic malnutrition, wasting- acute malnutrition and underweight-mix of two.
Extent of stunting, underweight and wasting is 48.3 per cent, 42.8 per cent and 20.1 per cent. About 7.2 per cent children under-five years suffer from all the three forms of under-nutrition at once. The risk of dying is at its highest for this group. A typical child with under-nutrition is a rural, poor, with low standard of living, Hindu, tribal with less educated mother.
In child under-nutrition, chronic under-nutrition is more prevalent. Under-nutrition can be inter-generational: if the mother is under-nourished, the child may also be under-nourished. Inadequate care during pregnancy results in low birth weight babies which is a proximate determinant for under-nutrition and childhood diseases. Maternal nutrition needs more attention.
Though supplementary nutrition is necessary, it is not sufficient. Better livelihood opportunities for parents and equitable healthcare for all is essential.
- Das Gupta, Monica, Michael Lokshin, Michele Gragnolati and Oleksiy Ivaschenko (2005), Improving Child Nutrition Outcomes in India: Can the Integrated Child Development Services Program Be More Effective?, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3647.
- Dasgupta, Rajib, Dipa Sinha and Veda Yumnam (2016), Rapid Survey of Wasting and Stunting in Children: What’s New, What’s Old and What’s the Buzz? Indian Pediatrics, Volume 53, January 15.
- Deolalikar, Anil B. (2005), Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in India: Reducing Infant Mortality, Child Malnutrition, Gender Disparities and Hunger-Poverty and Increasing School Enrolment and Completion?, Washington DC: Oxford University Press.
- IIPS and ORC Macro (2007), National Family Health Survey (NFHS – 3), India, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai.
- Jain, Monica (2005), India’s Struggle against Malnutrition: Is the ICDS Programme the Answer? World Development, 67(C): 72-89.
- Maity, Bipasha (2016), Interstate Differences in the Performance of Anganwadi Centres under ICDS Scheme, Economic and Political Weekly, December 17, LI(51): 59-66.
- Mistral, Gabriela (1948), http://www.who.int/nutgrowthdb/en
- Rutstein, S., K. Johnson and D. Gwatkin (2000), Poverty, Health Inequality and Its Health and Demographic Effects, Paper presented at the 2000 Annual Meeting of Population Association of America, Los Angeles, California
- UNICEF (2006), State of the World’s Children: Excluded and Invisible, UNICEF, New York, December 2005.
- ---------- (2007), Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children Statistical Review, No. 6, December 2007.
- WHO Multicenter Growth Reference Study Group (2006), WHO Child Growth Standards: Length / Height-for-Age, Weight-for-Age, Weight-for-Length, Weight-for-Height and Body Mass Index-for-Age – Methods and Development, Geneva, World Health Organization.
- Yatsu, Mayuko (2012), The Impact of Anganwadi Centres’ Services on Infant Survival in India, Public Purpose, http://www.american.edu/spa/publicpurpose/upload/yatsu_12.pdf, Accessed on 1 March, 2017
Abstract Views: 555
PDF Views: 0