Malnutrition Crisis in India

Why in news?

According to official reports Maharashtra has high level of malnutrition among children in the tribal belts.

What is the malnutrition crisis in Maharashtra?

• According to NFHS 2015-16, every second tribal child suffers from growth restricting malnutrition due to chronic hunger.
• India’s malnutrition crisis is worse than in some of the world’s poorest countries Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Mozambique.
• This level of poor nutrition security disproportionately affects the poorest segment of the population.
• In 2005, child malnutrition claimed as many as 718 lives in Maharashtra’s Palghar district alone.
• Even after a decade of double digit economic growth (2004-05 to 2014-15), Palghar’s malnutrition status has barely improved.
• Due to this National Human Rights Commission issued notice to the Maharashtra government over reports of 600 children dying due to malnutrition in Palghar,

How the stunting status has been calculated?

• Stunting is caused by an insufficient intake of macro- and micro-nutrients.
• It is generally accepted that recovery from growth retardation after two years is only possible if the affected child is put on a diet that is adequate in nutrient requirements.
• A critical aspect of nutrient adequacy is diet diversity, calculated by different groupings of foods consumed with the reference period ranging from one to 15 days.
• The eight food groups include - cereals, roots and tubers, legumes and nuts, dairy products, flesh foods, eggs, fish, dark green leafy vegetables, and other fruits and vegetables.

What are the concerns with diet pattern in tribal areas?

• In most households it was rice and dal which was cooked most often and eaten thrice a day and these were even served at teatime to the children if they felt hungry.
• There was no milk, milk product or fruit in their daily diets, Even the adults drank black tea as milk was unaffordable.
• Only 17% of the children achieved a minimum level of diet diversity  they received four or more of the eight food groups.
• This low dietary diversity is a proxy indicator for the household’s food security too as the children ate the same food cooked for adult members.
• Such acute food insecurity in tribal households is due to a loss of their traditional dependence on forest livelihood and the State’s deepening agrarian crisis.

What measures needs to be taken?

• Systemic issues and a weakening of public nutrition programmes have aggravated malnutrition problem in India.
• Analysis of the various State’s Budget also shows that the nutrition expenditure as a percentage of the State Budget has drastically declined.
• It is time the government looks at the root cause of the issue and finds a sustainable solution for tackling malnutrition.
• Employment opportunities for the marginalised which would improve their purchasing power and, in turn, reduce malnutrition
• Respective governments need to properly implement schemes like Integrated Child Development Services to check malnutrition.

Source: The Hindu