Poverty, child undernutrition and morbidity: new evidence from India

Undernutrition continues to be a primary cause of ill-health and premature
mortality among children in developing countries. This paper examines how
the prevalence of undernutrition in children is measured and argues that
the standard indices of stunting, wasting and underweight may each be
underestimating the scale of the problem. This has important implications
for policy-makers, planners and organizations seeking to meet international
development targets. Using anthropometric data on 24 396 children in India,
we constructed an alternative composite index of anthropometric failure
(CIAF) and compared it with conventional indices. The CIAF examines the
relationship between distinct subgroups of anthropometric failure, poverty
and morbidity, showing that children with multiple anthropometric failures
are at a greater risk of morbidity and are more likely to come from poorer
households. While recognizing that stunting, wasting and underweight reflect
distinct biological processes of clear importance, the CIAF is the only measure
that provides a single, aggregated figure of the number of undernourished
children in a population.