Somini Sengupta of the New York Times has one of those front-page articles that makes you wonder if you want to keep reading. It's titled "As Indian Growth Soars, Child Hunger Persists," and the accompanying photo shows a tiny child being fed some sort of starchy gruel. The baby seems a specter, so small and malnourished, and overwhelmed by the size of the spoon approaching its mouth. As the article makes clear, India's efforts to reduce child malnutrition have not been going well, and the country's rates of child malnutrition are higher than many sub-Saharan nations:
China, that other Asian economic powerhouse, sharply reduced child malnutrition, and now just 7 percent of its children under 5 are underweight, a critical gauge of malnutrition. In India, by contrast, despite robust growth and good government intentions, the comparable number is 42.5 percent. Malnutrition makes children more prone to illness and stunts physical and intellectual growth for a lifetime.
A World Food Program report last month noted that India remained home to more than a fourth of the world’s hungry, 230 million people in all. It also found anemia to be on the rise among rural women of childbearing age in eight states across India. Indian women are often the last to eat in their homes and often unlikely to eat well or rest during pregnancy. Ms. Menon’s institute, based in Washington, recently ranked India below two dozen sub-Saharan countries on its Global Hunger Index.
Childhood anemia, a barometer of poor nutrition in a lactating mother’s breast milk, is three times higher in India than in China, according to a 2007 research paper from the institute.The latest Global Hunger Index described hunger in Madhya Pradesh, a destitute state in central India, as “extremely alarming,” ranking the state somewhere between Chad and Ethiopia.
Here's another article that may help understand the problem, sent to me by a New York journalist who just spent the last year in India. It's from the Little Magazine, a highly regarded publication in India, and written by AK Shiva Kumar, a UNICEF consultant. From "Child Malnutrition: Myths and Solutions":
- Thirty out of 37 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa report lower levels of child malnutrition than India.
- Twenty-eight out of 37 Sub-Saharan African countries have a lower per capita income than India –– and most of them report lower rates of child malnutrition.
- Kerala and Karnataka report similar levels of per capita income. Yet 27 per cent of children under the age of three are malnourished in Kerala. The figure is 44 per cent in Karnataka.
- On the link between malnourished mothers and child malnutrition: "There is no predictable relationship between levels of malnutrition and food production within a country. India, for instance, has witnessed an impressive expansion in food production over the years, and it has built up a large buffer stock of foodgrains. Yet child malnutrition remains high. The critical element is the way households establish command over food, and how this food is distributed among members within a household."
- On the low levels of child malnutrition in the state of Sikkim: "Women in Sikkim enjoy far greater freedoms and autonomy than women in Madhya Pradesh. Women in Sikkim have better access to money, greater exposure to the media, and freedoms to go out of the house than women in Madhya Pradesh."
- In conclusion, Kumar states: "In understanding child malnutrition, the focus has to shift from incomes and food availability to an appreciation of how families establish command over food and healthcare, acquire and apply knowledge on child-caring and rearing practices, allocate time to look after children and protect the cleanliness and safety of the environment. We also need to look at women’s freedoms, gender equality and elimination of discrimination against girls and women. Ultimately, nutrition and healthy growth are the outcome of three essential factors: accessibility to food within the household, healthcare, and child-caring practices."