Why childhood under-nutrition persists in India and how to intervene

Recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released a survey on child under-nutrition in rural India in 2010-11 (Hunger and Malnutrition Survey,HUNGaMA). Sadly,the new data reinforced the existence of an India marked by substantially low levels of something absolutely vital for adequate human development. The survey found that 42 per cent of the under-five children were underweight and 59 per cent were stunted in the 100 focus districts. Remarkably,in six districts with the best child development index,the prevalence of underweight (33 per cent) and stunting (43 per cent) among children,while somewhat lower,was still substantially high — suggesting the endemic and persistent nature of the under-nutrition burden. Even though child under-nutrition remains very high,do the data from HUNGaMA suggest an improvement over previous assessments? Data from the district-level health survey (DLHS) of 2002-2004 provide some answers. The DLHS includes data on underweight among children under six from hundreds of districts across India. In the 100 focus districts,the prevalence of underweight appeared to have reduced 11 percentage points from 53 per cent in the DLHS to 42 per cent in the HUNGaMA Survey. A similar comparison of changes in the prevalence of stunting is not possible since DLHS did not measure the height of children. Other aspects of the results from the HUNGaMA survey reiterate older patterns. For instance,under-nutrition is inversely associated with socio-economic status; thus children from low income households or whose mother had low levels of education have higher prevalence of under-nutrition.