Starved of will

In what seems to be routine angst, the Centre has refuted data cited in a recently-released Unicef report that suggests that India, along with Bangladesh and Pakistan, is home to more than 55 million malnourished children under 5 years of age.

In what seems to be routine angst, the Centre has refuted data cited in a recently-released Unicef report that suggests that India, along with Bangladesh and Pakistan, is home to more than 55 million malnourished children under 5 years of age. The damning report, ‘Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition’, finds that more than half of the 27 per cent of the world’s underfed children live in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Instead of brushing this aside, the Centre should review the ground situation — and quantify for our benefit, just what it means by “the situation is much better”.

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It’s only too easy to wish away data without verification. Not only the Unicef, but healthcare officials, too, have been worried about India’s large numbers of underfed children. Reasons for this state of affairs have long been established, all poverty-related — early pregnancy, undernourished mothers, poor sanitation, access to poor quality water and a negligent governance system. The disadvantaged areas have been identified, reasons for deaths cited (diarrhoeal diseases the most common) and feasible and cost-effective solutions also exist. Yet, child mortality rates increase. The government needs to address its ineffectiveness in tackling this shameful situation on a war footing. It could perhaps look to China, which has managed, through small, consistent and committed steps, to cut underweight prevalence rates from 19 per cent in 1990 to 8 per cent in 2002. It adopted a multi-pronged approach of introducing micro-nutrient programmes for pre-pregnant and pregnant women, improving sanitary conditions, ensuring consistent oral rehydration therapy among other cost-effective intervention methods. Keeping the nation’s children alive is any government’s primary goal. The recently-constituted high profile Public Health Foundation should make this an immediate priority. In the meantime, the Centre could provide the nation with the ‘correct’ figures.

Also, perhaps it’s not just the approach or the figures that are awry. The fault may lie in the implementation of projects and programmes. If so, the government must review its delivery and monitoring mechanisms rather than make fatuous announcements about reforming the administrative system. It’s a tragedy that children are dying of diseases that can be prevented and cured.