Malnutrition in India

Providing all people with access to healthy food is a challenge for every country, including India.

Despite India's 50% increase in GDP since 2013, [1] more than one third of the world's malnourished children live in India. Among these, half of the children under three years old are underweight.

One of the major causes for malnutrition in India is economic inequality. Due to the low social status of majority of the population, their diet often lacks in both quality and quantity. Women who suffer from malnutrition are less likely to have healthy babies. Nutrition deficiencies inflict long-term damage to both individuals and society. Compared with their better-fed peers, nutrition-deficient individuals are more likely to have infectious diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis, which lead to a higher mortality rate. Besides, nutrition-deficient individuals are less productive at work. Low productivity not only gives them low pay that traps them in a vicious circle of under-nutrition, [2] but also brings inefficiency to the society, especially in India where labor is a major input factor for economic production. [3] On the other hand, over-nutrition also has severe consequences. In India national obesity rates in 2010 were 14% for women and 18% for men with some urban areas having rates as high as 40%.[4] Obesity causes several non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases. [2]

Causes

The World Bank estimates that India is one of the highest-ranking countries in the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world and is nearly double that of Sub Saharan Africa with dire consequences for mobility, mortality, productivity, and economic growth.[5]

The 2017 Global Hunger Index (GHI) Report by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ranked India 100th out of 118 countries with a serious hunger situation. Amongst South Asian nations, it ranks third behind only Afghanistan and Pakistan with a GHI score of 29.0 ("serious situation"). [6] The 2019 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report ranked India 102nd out of 117 countries with a serious issue of child wasting. At least one in five children under the age of five years in India is wasted.

India is one of the fastest growing countries in terms of population and economics, sitting at a population of 1.365 billion and growing at 1.5%–1.7% annually (from 2001 to 2007).[7][8] Though most of the population is still living below the National Poverty Line, its economic growth indicates new opportunities and a movement towards increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases which is observed in at high rates in developed countries such as United States, Canada and Australia. The combination of people living in poverty and the recent economic growth of India has led to the co-emergence of two types of malnutrition: undernutrition and overnutrition.[9]

On the Global Hunger Index India is on place 67 among the 80 nations having the worst hunger situation which is worse than nations such as North Korea or Sudan. 25% of all hungry people worldwide live in India. Since 1990 there have been some improvements for children but the proportion of hungry in the population has increased. In India 44% of children under the age of 5 are underweight. 72% of infants and 52% of married women have anemia. Research has conclusively shown that malnutrition during pregnancy causes the child to have an increased risk of future diseases, physical retardation, and reduced cognitive abilities.[10][11]

An estimated 23.6% of the population of India live below a purchasing power of $1.25 a day. This poverty does not directly lead to malnutrition but it leaves a large chunk of the population without adequate amounts of food. This makes a lack of access to food since people are too poor to go out and purchase it.[12] According to the Registrar General of India, the mortality of children under the age of five was about 59 out of every 1000 live births which is one of the highest rates in the world. It is reported by Save the Children that this is mainly due to malnutrition in the children.[13] Poor nutrition within the first thousand days of a child's life can have many negative causes to them. It can lead to stunted growth, impaired cognitive ability, reduced school performance, and diseases like diarrhea. According to a report, 68% of deaths in children under 5 years of age, in India, is due to malnutrition.[14]

Many factors, including region, religion and caste affect the nutritional status of Indians. Living in rural areas also contribute to nutritional status.[15]

Socio-economic status

In general, those who are poor are at risk for under-nutrition, in India[16] while those who have high socio-economic status are relatively more likely to be over-nourished. Anemia is negatively correlated with wealth.[15]

When it comes to child malnutrition, children in low-income families are more malnourished than those in high-income families. PDS system in India which account for the distribution of wheat and rice only, by which the proteins are insufficient by these cereals which leads to malnutrition also. One cultural belief that may lead to malnutrition is religion. Among these is the influence of religions, especially in India are restricted from consuming meat. Also, other Indians are strictly vegan, which means, they do not consume any sort of animal product, including dairy and eggs. This is a serious problem when inadequate protein is consumed because 56% of poor Indian households consume cereal to consume protein. It is observed that the type of protein that cereal contains does not parallel to the proteins that animal products contain (Gulati, 2012).[17] This phenomenon is most prevalent in the rural areas of India where more malnutrition exists on an absolute level. Whether children are of the appropriate weight and height is highly dependent on the socio-economic status of the population.[18] Children of families with lower socioeconomic standing are faced with sub-optimal growth. While children in similar communities have shown to share similar levels of nutrition, child nutrition is also differential from family to family depending on the mother's characteristics,[lower-alpha 1] household ethnicity, and place of residence. It is expected that with improvements in socio-economic welfare, child nutrition will also improve.[19]

Region

Under-nutrition is more prevalent in rural areas, again mainly due to low socioeconomic status. Anemia for both men and women is only slightly higher in rural areas than in urban areas. For example, in 2005, 40% of women in rural areas, and 36% of women in urban areas were found to have mild anemia.[15] In urban areas, overweight status and obesity are over three times as high as in rural areas.[15]

In terms of geographical regions, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, and Bihar have very high rates of under-nutrition. States with the lowest percentage of under-nutrition include Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur, Kerala, Punjab, and Goa, although the rate is still considerably higher than that of developed nations. Further, anemia is found in over 70% of individuals in the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, and Jharkhand. Less than 50% of individuals in Goa, Manipur, Mizoram, and Kerala have anaemia.[20]

Punjab, Kerala, and Delhi face the highest rate of overweight and obese individuals.[15]

Religion

Studies show that individuals belonging to Hindu or Muslim backgrounds in India tend to be more malnourished than those from Christian, Sikh, or Jain backgrounds.[21]

Female population

Dual burden

Dual burden is characterized as undernutrition in the form of obesity or underweight, existing within an individual and/or at a societal level. On an individual level, a person can be obese, yet lack enough nutrients for proper nutrition. [22] On a societal level, the dual burden refers to populations containing both overweight and underweight individuals co-existing. [22][23] Women in India share a substantial proportion of the dual burden on malnutrition.[24] The primary causes of whether a woman falls into the obese or underweight under-nutritional category is dependent on the socioeconomic status of the individual, and dependent on rural or urban populations. Women with higher economic means in urban areas fall into obese and overnourished category, while conversely lower income women in rural areas are underweight and undernourished.[24] A consistent factor among dual burden outcomes relates primarily to food security issues. Access to healthy and nutritious foods within India has been increasingly replaced by a large supply of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods.[22][24] The existence of the dual malnutrition problems suggests a need for policy makers to support options which measure nutritional output, as opposed to calories, when deciding policies to ensure a well fed society.[23]

Domestic violence

A strong connection has been found between malnutrition and domestic violence, in particular high levels of anemia and undernutrition.[25] Domestic violence comes in the form of psychological and physical abuse, as a control mechanism towards behaviors within families.[26] This control affects a woman's autonomy to make decisions in regards to providing food, what type and amount, which leads to adverse nutrition results for herself, and family members.[27] Psychological stress also affects anemia through a process labeled oxidative stress. In moments of high stress, free radicals are produced which attack healthy red blood cells, therefore lowering hemoglobin blood levels and producing anemic malnutrition.[25] Additionally, physiological or chronic stress is strongly correlated in women being underweight.[25][28]

Management

The Government of India has launched several programs to converge the growing rate of nutritious children. They include ICDS, NCF, National Health Mission. [29][30] To manage nutrition requirements especially following the COVID-19 pandemic, experts have recommended ways in which India can work towards nutrition security.[31] These include setting up community kitchens, adding pulses and millets to the Public Distribution system and continuing the school Midday Meal Scheme.

Midday meal scheme in Indian schools

The Indian government started the midday meal scheme on 15 August 1995. It serves millions of children with freshly cooked meals in almost all the government-run schools or schools aided by the government fund.

Apart from this, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness's (ISKCON) ISKCON Food Relief Foundation, the Nalabothu Foundation, and the Akshaya Patra Foundation run the world's largest NGO-run midday meal programs, each serving freshly cooked plant-based meals to over 1.3  million school children in government and government-aided schools in India. These programs are conducted with part subsidies from the government and partly with donations from individuals and corporations. The meals served by Food for Life Annamrita and Akshaya Patra comply with the nutritional norms given by the government of India and aims to eradicate malnutrition among children in India. Food for Life Annamrita (FFLA) is the premier affiliate of Food for Life Global, the world's largest free food relief network, with projects in over 60 countries.[32]

Integrated child development scheme

The government of India started a program called Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in 1975. ICDS has been instrumental in improving the health of mothers and children under age 6 by providing health and nutrition education, health services, supplementary food, and pre-school education. ICDS is run by India's central government via the Ministry of Women and Child Development, targeting rural, urban, and tribal populations and has reached over 70 million young children and 16 million pregnant and lactating mothers.[33]

Other programs impacting under-nutrition include the National Midday Meal Scheme, the National Rural Health Mission, and the Public Distribution System (PDS). The challenge for these programs and schemes is how to increase efficiency, impact, and coverage.

Bal Kuposhan Mukta Bihar (BKMB) is a campaign launched by the Department of Social Welfare, Government of Bihar in 2014.

The campaign is based on five "C":

  • Communication for behavior change
  • Capacity building
  • Community's access to tangibles and intangibles
  • Community participation and
  • Collective approach.

The multi-pronged strategy shows that a health issue like malnutrition can be tackled with the help of behaviour change communication (BCC) and other social aspects.[34]

National Children's Fund

The National Children's Fund was created during the International Year of the Child in 1979 under the Charitable Endowment Fund Act, 1890. This Fund provides support to voluntary organizations that help the welfare of kids.

National Plan of Action for Children

India is a signatory to the 27 survival and development goals laid down by the World Summit on children 1990. To implement these goals, the Department of Women & Child Development has formulated a National Plan of Action on Children. Each concerned Central Ministries/Departments, State Governments/U.Ts. and Voluntary Organisations dealing with women and children have been asked to take up appropriate measures to implement the Action Plan. These goals have been integrated into National Development Plans. A Monitoring Committee under the Chairpersonship of Secretary (Women & Child Development) reviews the achievement of goals set in the National Plan of Action. All concerned Central Ministries/Departments are represented on the committee.

15 State Governments have prepared State Plan of Action on the lines of National Plan of Action specifying targets for 1995 as well as for 2000 and spelling out strategies for holistic child development.

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund

Department of Women and Child Development is the nodal department for UNICEF. India is associated with UNICEF since 1949 and is now in the fifth decade of cooperation for assisting most disadvantaged children and their mothers. Traditionally, UNICEF has been supporting India in several sectors like child development, women's development, urban basic services, support for community-based convergent services, health, education, nutrition, water & sanitation, specially-abled children, children in especially difficult circumstances, information and communication, planning and program support. India was a member of the UNICEF Executive Board till 31 December 1997. The board has 3 regular sessions and one annual session in a year. Strategies and other important matters relating to UNICEF are discussed in those meetings. A meeting of Government of India and UNICEF officials concurred on 12 November 1997 to finalize the strategy and areas for the program of cooperation for the next Master Plan of operations 1999–2002 which is to synchronize with the Ninth Plan of Government of India. [35]

National Health Mission

National Rural Health Mission

The National Rural Health Mission of India mission was created for the years 2005–2012, and its goal is to "improve the availability of and access to quality health care by people, especially for those residing in rural areas, the poor, women, and children."

The subset of goals under this mission is:

  1. Reduce infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality ratio (MMR), Neonatal mortality rate (NMR)
  2. Provide universal access to public health services
  3. Prevent and control both communicable and non-communicable diseases, including locally endemic diseases
  4. Provide access to integrated comprehensive primary healthcare
  5. Create population stabilization, as well as gender and demographic balance
  6. Revitalize local health traditions and mainstream AYUSH
  7. Finally, to promote healthy lifestyles

The mission has set up strategies and action plan to meet all of its goals. [36]

Notes

  1. ↑ Explanatory variables of maternal characteristics used were: years of education; body mass index (BMI); anemia status; autonomy in seeking medical assistance for self; and place of birth for the child in the study.[19]

See also

Further reading

  • Measham, Anthony R.; Meera Chatterjee (1999). Wasting away: the crisis of malnutrition in India. World Bank Publications. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-8213-4435-4. Malnutrition in India.

References

  1. ↑ "The Indian exception". The Economist. 31 March 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Turning the tide of malnutrition" (PDF). World Health Organization. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  3. ↑ "A call for reform and action". The World Bank. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  4. ↑ "India in grip of obesity epidemic". The Times of India. 12 November 2010. Archived from the original on 28 April 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  5. ↑ "World Bank Report". Source: The World Bank (2009). Retrieved 13 March 2009. World Bank Report on Malnutrition in India
  6. ↑ "2015 Global Hunger Index Report" (PDF). International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
  7. ↑ "World Development Indicators – Google Public Data Explorer".
  8. ↑ "World Bank Report". Source: The World Bank 2009. Archived from the original on 11 March 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2009. India Country Overview 2009
  9. ↑ Yach, Derek; Hawkes, Corinna; Gould, C. Linn; Hofman, Karen J. (2004). "Journal of the American Medical Association". JAMA. 291 (21): 2616–2622. doi:10.1001/jama.291.21.2616. PMID 15173153. The global burden of chronic diseases
  10. ↑ "Superpower? 230 million Indians go hungry daily", Subodh Varma, 15 Jan 2012, The Times of India
  11. ↑ against hunger.in/hunger/underlying-causes-malnutrition "Causes of Hunger in India". Action Against Hunger. Retrieved 19 November 2020. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  12. ↑ "Why India remains malnourished". downtoearth.org.in. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  13. ↑ Singh, Abhishek (2 March 2020). "Childhood Malnutrition in India". Perspective of Recent Advances in Acute Diarrhea. doi:10.5772/intechopen.89701. ISBN 978-1-78923-865-5.
  14. ↑ "68 Per Cent Of Child Deaths Under Five Years In India Caused By Malnutrition In 2017: Study News". NDTV-Dettol Banega Swasth Swachh India. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 "NFHS-3 Nutritional Status of Adults". Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  16. ↑ Kanjilal, B; et al. (2010). "Nutritional Status of Children in India: Household Socio-Economic Condition as the Contextual Determinant". International Journal for Equity in Health. 9: 19. doi:10.1186/1475-9276-9-19. PMC 2931515. PMID 20701758.
  17. ↑ Gulati, A., Ganesh-Kumar, A., Shreedhar, G., & Nandakumar, T. (2012). Agriculture and malnutrition in India. Food And Nutrition Bulletin, 33(1), 74–86
  18. ↑ "HUNGaMA Survey Report" (PDF). Naandi foundation. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  19. 1 2 Kanjilal, Barun; Mazumdar; Mukherjee; Rahman (January 2010). "Nutritional status of children in India: household socio-economic condition as the contextual determinant". International Journal for Equity in Health. 9: 19–31. doi:10.1186/1475-9276-9-19. PMC 2931515. PMID 20701758.
  20. ↑ "NFHS-3 Nutritional Status of Children". Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  21. ↑ "Nutrition and Anaemia" (PDF). Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  22. 1 2 3 Meenakshi, J. V. (1 November 2016). "Trends and patterns in the triple burden of malnutrition in India" (PDF). Agricultural Economics. 47 (S1): 115–134. doi:10.1111/agec.12304. ISSN 1574-0862.
  23. 1 2 Thow, Anne Marie; Kadiyala, Suneetha; Khandelwal, Shweta; Menon, Purnima; Downs, Shauna; Reddy, K. Srinath (June 2016). "Toward Food Policy for the Dual Burden of Malnutrition: An Exploratory Policy Space Analysis in India" (PDF). Food and Nutrition Bulletin. 37 (3): 261–274. doi:10.1177/0379572116653863. PMID 27312356. S2CID 24424765.
  24. 1 2 3 Kulkarni, Vani S.; Kulkarni, Veena S.; Gaiha, Raghav (2017). "Double Burden of Malnutrition". International Journal of Health Services. 47 (1): 108–133. doi:10.1177/0020731416664666. PMID 27638762. S2CID 10303158.
  25. 1 2 3 Ackerson, L. K.; Subramanian, S. V. (15 May 2008). "Domestic Violence and Chronic Malnutrition among Women and Children in India". American Journal of Epidemiology. 167 (10): 1188–1196. doi:10.1093/aje/kwn049. ISSN 0002-9262. PMC 2789268. PMID 18367471.
  26. ↑ Yount, Kathryn M.; Digirolamo, Ann M.; Ramakrishnan, Usha (1 May 2011). "Impacts of domestic violence on child growth and nutrition: A conceptual review of the pathways of influence". Social Science & Medicine. 72 (9): 1534–1554. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.02.042. ISSN 0277-9536. PMID 21492979.
  27. ↑ "Domestic violence associated with chronic malnutrition in women and children in India". News. 22 April 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  28. ↑ Ferreira, Marcela de Freitas; Moraes, Claudia Leite de; Reichenheim, Michael Eduardo; Verly Junior, Eliseu; Marques, Emanuele Souza; Salles-Costa, Rosana; Ferreira, Marcela de Freitas; Moraes, Claudia Leite de; Reichenheim, Michael Eduardo (January 2015). "Effect of physical intimate partner violence on body mass index in low-income adult women". Cadernos de Saúde Pública. 31 (1): 161–172. doi:10.1590/0102-311X00192113. ISSN 0102-311X. PMID 25715300.
  29. ↑ "ICDS".
  30. ↑ "National health mission".
  31. ↑ Jayashree, R. Gopinath & B. "Beyond food rations: Six ways India can ensure nutrition security for its most vulnerable people". Scroll.in. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  32. ↑ http://www.ffl.org
  33. ↑ Balarajan, Yarlini; Reich, Michael R. (1 July 2016). "Political economy of child nutrition policy: A qualitative study of India's Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme". Food Policy. 62: 88–98. doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.05.001. ISSN 0306-9192.
  34. ↑ "A campaign to end malnutrition in Bihar". ideasforindia.in. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  35. ↑ "Child Development Website". Source: Child Development programs site (2009). Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 14 March 2009. Programs to address malnutrition in India
  36. ↑ "National Rural Health Mission" (PDF). Source: National Rural Health Mission (2005–2012). Retrieved 26 November 2009.
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