India’s child malnutrition and stunted growth problems are on the rise, and as food prices across the globe continue to rise there appears to be no sign of a slow down. India continues to come to grips with one of the world’s highest child malnutrition rates, with one third of the worlds malnourished children. The current rate only looks to increase as over 1.5 million more children are now at risk due to rising food prices according to UNICEF. The high malnutrition rate has resulted in stunted growth in about half of all Indian children under the age of five, the UN children’s agency said.
Stunted growth is not only brought on by malnutrition in early childhood, but also in the fetal development stage when the mother is malnourished. The effects of stunting are most always permanent, and stunted children may never regain the height lost as a result. In addition most children will never gain the corresponding body weight, and stunting can also lead to premature death, as vital organs are never fully developed during childhood.
News of India’s large scale child malnutrition problem is not new, as was reported in the the 2005 UNICEF report, “Childhood Under Threat”, which not only reported that; 53% of Indian children are chronically malnourished, but that 63% go to bed hungry. The report also showed that some 77 million children do not use drinking water from a tap, 85 million are not immunized, 27 million where severely underweight and another 33 million have never been to school. In 2007 the National Family Health Survey reported, the survey when compared to the same survey in 2000 only saw a marginal drop in child malnutrition rates, leaving India behind Sub-Saharan Africa.
It is all to clear that India, the worlds largest democracy, is not doing enough to save its children and safeguard their future as they continue to remain worse than that of it’s African counterparts. And with rising rice prices heavily effecting the country the severity of malnutrition across the country is only becoming more grave and harder to ignore. Many fear that school feedings, which are often the only viable source of proper nutrition for many children, will not increase as needed.
In a climate of increasing insatiability the threat of increased child labor follows closely behind malnutrition fears, and India is no stranger to child labor. Therefore it is clear that the government and aid agencies must make maternal and child malnutrition a top priority as food prices continue to rise and following food shortages ensure that malnutrition rates remain high. Thus feeding programs alone are not enough, agricultural investments and training programs must follow, especially in regards to small scale farming programs, if we are to see a significant drop in malnutrition across the state of India.
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The Globe and Mail (Toronto)/Reuters
BBC
