Fixing Child Malnutrition Crisis in South Asia

[RiazHaq]

In 2009, the Indian government banned the import of Plumpy'Nut nutrient bar by UNICEF to treat moderate to severe acute malnutrition among Indian children. Defending the government action, Mr. Shreeranjan, the joint secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, told the Reuters that "Nothing should come behind our back. Nothing should be done in the name of emergency when we have not declared an emergency."

Clearly, Mr. Shreeranjan does not see the food emergency that is causing almost half of India's children to be malnourished. According to UNICEF's State of the World's Children's report carried by the BBC, India has the worst indicators of child malnutrition in South Asia: 48% of under fives in India are stunted, compared to 43% in Bangladesh and 37% in Pakistan.

Meanwhile 30% of babies in India are born underweight, compared to 22% in Bangladesh and 19% in Pakistan. UNICEF calculates that 40% of all underweight babies in the world are Indian.

In the face of such shocking data, what is particularly disturbing is the lack of focus in pursuing solutions to this problem that affects tens of millions of children in the developing world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

If the governments, such as India, are concerned about dependence on foreign food imports, they need to have policies and plans in place to encourage development of local alternatives to what are called ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF) bars such as Plumpy'Nut made from fortified peanut paste.

On the extreme affordability front, Bangladesh is setting an example for others to follow. Bangladeshi Nobel Laureate Mohammad Younus's Grameen, in joint venture with Danone of France, is producing a special yogurt called Shakti Doi from pure full cream milk that contains protein, vitamins, iron, calcium, zinc and other micronutrients to fulfill the nutritional requirements of children of Bangladesh and contribute in improving their health. While 'Shakti Doi' (which means 'power yogurt') is primarily intended for children, it is also appropriate for adults. The price of each 80 gram cup of yogurt is only 5 takas, equivalent to Euro 0.05 (five cents). It is an affordable price even for the poor people of Bangladesh. It's locally made and significantly cheaper than Plumpy'Nut, costing about one-tenth of the cost of solutions offered outside Bangladesh.

Haq's Musings: Malnutrition Challenge in India, Pakistan

 

[RiazHaq]

New Delhi, March 4 (IANS) India’s annual food inflation rose slightly to 17.87 percent for the week ended Feb 20 from 17.58 percent the week before, though the government had said that prices had started easing and would fall further following a good winter crop.
According to official data released Thursday, prices of essential items continued to move up, with pulses dearer by 35.23 percent, potatoes by 27.69 percent, vegetables by 15.45 percent and wheat by 14 percent.

The limited data on wholesale price index released by the commerce and industry ministry

also showed a rise in the index for primary articles by 15 percent and that for fuel, power, light and lubricants going up 9.59 percent.

India’s annual rate of inflation, based on the wholesale prices index, had risen to 8.56 percent in January from 7.31 percent in the previous month, primarily due to galloping food prices.

After the government hiked auto fuel prices, it is feared that food prices would rise further in the coming months.

Both houses of parliament Wednesday witnessed stormy scenes as opposition members demanded a rollback of petrol and diesel price hikes, saying they would have a cascading effect on the already high prices of essential commodities.

The price rise of some essential food items over the 52-week period:

- Pulses: 35.23 percent

- Potatoes: 27.69 percent

- Vegetables: 15.45 percent

- Milk: 15.28 percent

- Wheat: 14 percent

- Cereals: 11.58 percent

- Onions: 11.14 percent

- Fruits: 10.41 percent

- Rice: 9.62 percent

More at : India’s food inflation rises marginally (Lead) India’s food inflation rises marginally (Lead)

 

[Avatar]

As S.Asia develops we must constantly transform agriculture and irrigation facilities from old fashioned extensive towards technologically superior intensive methods. They will cost more but the output will increase radically. 60% of India is fertile. That's enough to support the entire subcontinent. I suppose efforts are already in place. Recently someone had said that the worst of the food crisis is over.

 

[gpit]

Defending the government action, Mr. Shreeranjan, the joint secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, told the Reuters that "Nothing should come behind our back. Nothing should be done in the name of emergency when we have not declared an emergency."

Face-saving is very important, regardless whether the regim is communism or democracy... but does GoI have criteria how many stunt kids will trig emergency?

 

[Vassnti]

Clearly, Mr. Shreeranjan does not see the food emergency that is causing almost half of India's children to be malnourished. According to UNICEF's State of the World's Children's report carried by the BBC, India has the worst indicators of child malnutrition in South Asia: 48% of under fives in India are stunted, compared to 43% in Bangladesh and 37% in Pakistan.

Meanwhile 30% of babies in India are born underweight, compared to 22% in Bangladesh and 19% in Pakistan. UNICEF calculates that 40% of all underweight babies in the world are Indian.


Haq's Musings: Malnutrition Challenge in India, Pakistan

Low birth weights and malnourished infants they need to be looking at the nutrition of the mothers as well.
Congratulations to Bangladesh on coming up with a cheep localy produced solution to part of the problem, perhaps it will inspire other countires to try some thing similar.

 

[RiazHaq]

India has unofficially become the world's child death capital, with a study claiming that over 5,000 children die in the country every day of "totally preventable causes". According to the study, Child Health Now, by the NGO World Vision, India accounts for the highest number of child deaths (under five years of age) in the world at 1.95 million per year.

The study revealed that the majority of the deaths occur in the child's first year itself. The causes included diarrhoea, pneumonia and neo- natal problems.> Simple life- saving measures such as oral rehydration solutions, basic vaccinations, breastfeeding and using mosquito nets could bring down the dismal number by more than two thirds, the report said.

Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo follow India in the list. Together, the three nations account for 40 per cent of the total child deaths in the world. It was also found that the three countries allocated the least share of funding - less than three per cent - to maternal and child heath in the health sector allocation.

Reni Jacob, the advocacy director for World Vision India, said, "When hundreds die in a disaster, it is considered an emergency. But when 5,000 children die every day, it is not considered one. This is the biggest human rights and child rights violation of all times." The fact that simple interventions can go a long way in preventing child deaths is evident from the disparities that exist within India itself. While states like Orissa have a high infant mortality rate of 10 per cent, in others like Kerala, the rate is just a little over 1 per cent. And that is primarily because of initiatives in child care and maternal health services.

Indeed, the report found that children in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are more vulnerable than those in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Bihar, less than one- third infants are breast- fed and 50 per cent of children are stunted because of malnutrition. The state has a high infant mortality rate of 85 deaths per 1,000 live births.

World Vision has launched a five- year campaign in India to address the alarming situation. It has also urged the government to revamp the National Rural Health Mission and widen the focus of the Integrated Child Development Scheme to less than three- year- olds.

Hi, I'm Greg! - In child death capital India 5,000 die every day

 

[RiazHaq]

Here's BBC commentary by Soutik Biswas on India's "rights revolution":

Ensuring the basics in life remains the biggest challenge for India, six decades after independence.

Take food. Some 43% of Indian children younger than five are underweight - far above the global average of 25% or sub-Saharan Africa's 28%. India is a lowly 65th among 84 countries in the Global Hunger Index. Half of the world's hungry people live in India.

So the proposed right to food, entitling a poor family to 25kg of rice or wheat at three rupees (seven cents) a kilogram is good news. The bad news is that identifying the deserving poor is a challenge - there are four different government estimates of the very poor or below poverty line (BPL) people floating around. States may inflate numbers of beneficiaries to corner more federal benefits. Then there is the notoriously leaky public distribution system, from where food is often siphoned off by a triad of low-level bureaucrats, shop owners and middlemen.

Nobody can deny that the right to education - every child aged 6-14 can demand free schooling - is critical: an estimated eight million children in that age group do not attend school in India. India's 61% literacy rate lags behind Kenya's 85%. But critics point to a lack of teachers - India would need more than a million teachers just to implement the right - and say there are simply not enough schools to cope with the increased demand.

Rights don't work miracles. But activists say they are an urgent social intervention to empower the poor in a highly iniquitous society, where it is difficult for the poor to access officials to air their grievances and secure their entitlements. "In a hierarchical society, rights-based movements are a way of moving towards equality," says leading political scientist Mahesh Rangarajan. Also, they put pressure on the state to deliver - the right to information, despite glitches, is making government more accountable.

Studies show that sensitive political and bureaucratic leadership combined with grassroots awareness and an engaged local media can translate rights into reality and improve the lives of the poor. Activists point out that money is not a problem - the economy is doing well, revenues are buoyant, federal health and education outlays have been increased. The government has pledged more than $5bn to send 10 million poor children to school.

The cynicism over rights mainly comes from India's burgeoning educated upper middle class. It is mostly not engaged with public institutions at all - its members rarely serve in the lower ranks of the armed forces, teach in state schools or work for the government. Yes, there are valid concerns about whether the state has the capacity to deliver on rights. Yes, the Indian state continues to focus on maintaining law and order and collecting revenue. Delivering services is not its strength. Rights could actually help it move towards a functioning welfare state. I would like to hear stories from you - and people you may know - who are reaping the benefits of the rights revolution.

BBC - Soutik Biswas's India

 

[HariSeldon]

@ title - You mean India right? Why try to hide.

 

[RiazHaq]

In a recent interview, food campaigner Jean Dreze aid, "For Indians to eat like the Chinese, let alone the French or the Italians, there will have to be a lot more food around."

Here are some excerpts from it:

"Firstly, I would not agree that India is “self-sufficient” in food production. It looks self-sufficient only because food intake is abysmally low, not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality. For Indians to eat like the Chinese, let alone the French or the Italians, there will have to be a lot more food around. Having said this, low food production is not the main issue, and food production itself would easily go up if there were enough purchasing power among the masses. The main issue is people’s inability to secure essential things that are required for good nutrition. These include not only food but also other inputs such as clean water, health care, sanitation, basic education and child care. All these fields of public policy have been grossly neglected for a long time."

"The NREGA can certainly help, and it does. In a recent survey of 1,000 NREGA workers conducted in 10 districts of North India, 69 per cent of the respondents felt that the NREGA had “helped them to avoid hunger” [see “The Battle for Employment Guarantee”, Frontline, January 2009]. But even if the NREGA functioned really well, which is not the case, it would have a limited impact on the nutrition situation, for many reasons. Some people are unable to participate in NREGA work because of illness, disability, old age, and so on. Those who do participate earn a meagre income at best, even if they work for 100 days in the year. And most importantly, good nutrition is not a matter of income alone. This applies especially to child nutrition, which is the foundation of good nutrition for all.

Even among households that are relatively well-off in economic terms, child under-nutrition is not uncommon, for reasons that can range from low birthweight and poor breastfeeding practices to lack of health care or gender discrimination. This is why a range of complementary interventions are required. It would be pointless to expect a single intervention, whether it is the NREGA or the PDS or the ICDS, to ensure food security."

‘The main issue is people’s inability to secure essentials’

 

[RiazHaq]

India Struggles With Hunger - The New York Times

 

[RiazHaq]

I had heard stories about the poor Haitian children eating mud to survive.

But it seems that the situation in India is no better.

Here's a BBC story today:

"We live on a day-to-day basis," Suraj says, as the faint sound of hammering echoes across the village. "What we earn is what we spend on our families in a day."

In Ganne, just off the main road about an hour south of the city of Allahabad, this is a simple fact of life.

It is home to members of a poor tribal community, who live in small huts clustered around a series of shallow quarries.

Inside one of the huts sits a little girl called Poonam. She is three years old, and in the early stages of kidney failure.

Like many children in Ganne she has become used to eating bits of dried mud and silica, which she finds in the quarry. Tiny children chew on the mud simply because they are hungry - but it is making them ill.

When reports first emerged of children eating mud here local officials delivered more food and warned the villagers not to speak to outsiders. But Poonam's father, Bhulli, is close to despair.

BBC News - Diet of mud and despair in Indian village

 

[Mogambo]

What the hell

why are u bringing old and dead threads from graves??

For u South Asia = India?

 

[RiazHaq]

Here's a Time magazine story of a finding that Indian children's exceptionally short heights are attributable to poor sanitation in India, not malnutrition:

Children in India are exceptionally short, with their stunted growth historically attributed to malnutrition. However, new evidence is suggesting that food, or lack of it, is not the cause. Noticing that Indian children were smaller than their counterparts in Sub-Saharan Africa — who are, on average, poorer and hence less well fed — researchers have been coming to the conclusion that diseases stemming from poor sanitation are more to blame than diet.

More than half of India’s population — over 600 million people — do not use a toilet because sanitation is inaccessible or unaffordable. At the same time 61.7 million Indian children are stunted, the highest prevalence in the world.

The atrocious hygiene that results from widespread lack of sanitation is made worse by the density of the population. With large numbers of people openly defecating, fecal-oral-transmitted infections are common, leading to diarrhea, with such diseases draining growing children of vital nutrients. Growing up in environments teeming with fecal pathogens has a permanently debilitating effect, experts say. Overtime, a large build-up of fecal germs in the body can also manifest as severe intestinal diseases.

Last month, a group of economists, epidemiologists, pediatricians and nutritionists gathered at a conference in New Delhi to push for recognition of poor sanitation as the cause of child stunting in India. “It was striking that each of them [participants] had something to say about sanitation being important for child health,” Sangita Vyas, of the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics, which coorganized the meeting, told TIME. Such claims emerge at a time when the results of a massive government survey into the availability of sanitation have become available and converged with long-standing epidemiological literature.

Rural Indians remain hard to convince that this is a health epidemic, researchers say, because stunting creeps through communities, affects “everybody on average” and there are “no real dramatic cases,” Princeton University economist Dean Spears, who is currently at the Delhi School of Economics, told TIME. “The sorts of dramatic tragedies that persuade people [to change] don’t happen,” he says.

(MORE: Are Toilets a Feminist Issue? Why the Burden of Bad Sanitation Falls on Women)

A few years ago, a government sanitation program was implemented in half of 60 villages in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, Western India. After the program, Spears and fellow economist Jeff Hammer found on average, that the height of children in the experimental group had increased by about one centimeter, relative to those in the 30 villages where the program had not been introduced.

“Widespread child-stunting in India is a human development emergency,” Spears says. “It matters for everybody.”

Poor Sanitation, Not Malnutrition, May Be to Blame For India’s Notoriously Stunted Children | TIME.com

 

[JattPunjabi]

I have waited all week for another edition of Haks Moosings.

 

[[Bregs]]

what purpose this thread serves ?