Mines Are Mine

Malnutrition and Role of NGO

Child Malnutrition in India

Child malnutrition is a biggest challenge our country is facing today even when the economy is said to surging ahead. Every second child under three in the country is malnourished.The number for under five children is 55 million which is two and half times the population of Australia.35% of the world's malnourished children live in India. Half the number of child deaths takes place due to malnutrition which could be prevented.

The situation has not seen an improvement between the reports of the National Family Health Survey III in 2007 and NFHS II seven years earlier.
It is a known fact that malnutrition can affect economic productivity and the ability to make decisions. Experts say that unless the problem is addressed on a war footing it will lower the country's GDP growth rate by 2-3%.One of the reasons why the issue has remained unaddressed is because it is not high on national agenda. There has been no determined action.


The problem of child malnutrition starts long before the child is born. The age at which a woman marries has a bearing on the foetus. So does her nutritional intake during pregnancy and after she gives birth. Her educational status will decide whether she goes in for institutional deliveries which prevent infections, the importance she attaches to hygiene and to immunization of her child. Her nutrition, health and education and her status in the family and the community determine whether the child is malnourished or not. It is not possible to address the problem of child malnutrition unless the condition of the woman is improved.

The Indian figures are worse than the malnutrition rates prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa even though those countries have known for famine, poverty and political instability. In the world 40% of the low weight babies (below 2.5kg) are from India. One of the major causes of low birth weight babies in India is the high incidences of anaemia among women.

Recent studies have shown that the damage is done by the time a child reaches the age of two. The critical age-group is 0-2 and it is this group that needs the maximum attention. The governments focus needs to shift to address the nutritional and survival issues related to this group. The issue of child malnutrition needs attention from all levels. From political will to pressure from civil societies and communities themselves.
A relatively small number of states, districts, and villages account for a large share of the burden – 5 states and 50 percent of villages account for about 80 percent of the malnutrition cases.

In India, with one of the highest percentages of undernourished children in the world, the situation is dire. Moreover, inequalities in undernutrition between demographic, socioeconomic and geographic groups increased during the 1990s. More, and better, investments are needed if India is to reach the nutrition MDGs. Economic growth will not be enough.


The World Bank estimates that India is ranked 2nd in the world of the number of children suffering from malnutrition, after Bangladesh (in 1998), where 47% of the children exhibit a degree of malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world, and is nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa with dire consequences for mobility, mortality, productivity and economic growth.[1] The UN estimates that 2.1 million Indian children die before reaching the age of 5 every year – four every minute - mostly from preventable illnesses such as diarrhea, typhoid, malaria, measles and pneumonia. Every day, 1,000 Indian children die because of diarrhea alone. According to the 1991 census of India, it has around 150 million children, constituting 17.5% of India's population, who are below the age of 6 years.

Undernutrition includes both protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. Undernourishment not only affects physical appearance and energy levels, but also directly affects many aspects of the children’s mental functions, growth and development which has adverse effects on children’s ability to learn and process information and grow into adults that are able to be productive and contributing members of society. Undernourishment also impairs immune function leaving them more susceptible to infection. Children with infections are more susceptible to malnutrition and the cycle of poverty and malnutrition continues. Child malnutrition is responsible for 22 percent of India’s burden of disease..

The challenge: Accelerating progress in reducing child malnutrition in India: India has many nutrition and social safety net programs, some of which (such as Integrated Child Development Services [ICDS] and the Public Distribution System [PDS]) have had success in several states in
addressing the needs of poor households. All of these programs have potential, but they do not form a comprehensive nutrition strategy, and they have not addressed the nutrition problem effectively so far.~TOI