The kids aren’t all right not at all

The kids aren’t all right not at all

The state of India’s children is of serious concern. UN agency Unicef ’s ‘the State of the World’s Children’ and the Global Huger Index both find high incidence of malnutrition, stunting and wasting among India’s children under five years of age. While there have been improvements over the years, the pace of change is far too slow to stem the loss in quality of life that early deprivation inflicts on children.

India has a high prevalence of stunted children in the world — 38% of under-fives. South Asia is the global epicentre of wasting — 15.2% of under-fives. Poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water are key drivers of the high levels of wasting and stunting among young children. Globalisation and urbanisation shift diets towards processed foods, with loss in nutrition. Climate shocks, particularly floods and droughts, result in agricultural losses that thrust both lower purchasing power and cheaper, nutrition-deficient food on the poor. Climate shocks impact availability of clean water, result in exponential increase in diseases. Children already suffering from malnutrition are much more vulnerable to these conditions.

In India, there still are sections of the population where access to food is still a problem. But the vast majority suffer malnutrition for reasons other than inadequate intake of food: intestinal parasites spread by poor sanitation and lack of awareness on nutrition and absence of vital micronutrients in the food consumed. There is a need to step up the support for expectant mothers and young children through existing programmes and focus on increasing awareness towards healthier diets. Sanitation and clean drinking water programmes show the way. As does the remarkable progress Bangladesh has achieved on this front.