Child Malnurition in India
Child Malnutrition in Darbhanga District North East India
Introduction
India has the highest prevalence of underweight and malnourished children in the world and is almost double of the Sub-Saharan Africa. One in every three malnourished children in the world lives in India (World Health Organisation, 2008). Indian National Family Healthy Survey reports that, 48% of children under the age of three are malnourished and 19.8% suffered from acute malnutrition (IIPS, 2006). There are many inequalities across castes and gender in particular regions of India, with rural and remote populations suffering the most vulnerability (Mishra, RN 2006).
Bihar is a state located in north east of India and is the third most populated state with the highest precent of people living below the poverty line. It is characterized by an enormous stretch of cultivate and fertile flat land with major rivers running through. However Bihar is frequently touched by floods throughout monsoon months (Espie et al 2011).
In 2007 Bihar flooding, the international non-governmental organisations delivered an emergency response to address the health and nutrition needs of population being affected. To assist the emergency response, an initial assessment of the nutrition situation based on standardised procedures was conducted (World Health organisation 2004). The outcome of this assessment showed that, a high level of malnutrition is present especially children under the age of 5 years throughout the whole state and particularly in the district of Darbhanga, the poorest region of Bihar. The association between flood and acute malnutrition in children under the age of 5 is still vague and a question remained about the prevalence of acute malnutrition during the rest of the year (Espie et al 2011).
Darbhanga district is the poorest area with the highest landless population in Bihar. According to the Census of India 2001, its population was 3 018639 of whom 91.6% are in rural and 20.1% are
Introduction
India has the highest prevalence of underweight and malnourished children in the world and is almost double of the Sub-Saharan Africa. One in every three malnourished children in the world lives in India (World Health Organisation, 2008). Indian National Family Healthy Survey reports that, 48% of children under the age of three are malnourished and 19.8% suffered from acute malnutrition (IIPS, 2006). There are many inequalities across castes and gender in particular regions of India, with rural and remote populations suffering the most vulnerability (Mishra, RN 2006).
Bihar is a state located in north east of India and is the third most populated state with the highest precent of people living below the poverty line. It is characterized by an enormous stretch of cultivate and fertile flat land with major rivers running through. However Bihar is frequently touched by floods throughout monsoon months (Espie et al 2011).
In 2007 Bihar flooding, the international non-governmental organisations delivered an emergency response to address the health and nutrition needs of population being affected. To assist the emergency response, an initial assessment of the nutrition situation based on standardised procedures was conducted (World Health organisation 2004). The outcome of this assessment showed that, a high level of malnutrition is present especially children under the age of 5 years throughout the whole state and particularly in the district of Darbhanga, the poorest region of Bihar. The association between flood and acute malnutrition in children under the age of 5 is still vague and a question remained about the prevalence of acute malnutrition during the rest of the year (Espie et al 2011).
Darbhanga district is the poorest area with the highest landless population in Bihar. According to the Census of India 2001, its population was 3 018639 of whom 91.6% are in rural and 20.1% are
References: Espie, E., Pujol, C. R., Masferrer, M., Saint-Sauveur, J.-F., Urrutia, P. P. P. & Grais, R. F. 2011. ‘Acute malnutrition and under-5 mortality, northeastern part of India’. Journal Of Tropical Pediatrics, vol. 57, pp. 389-391. Whang, I. 1981, Management of Rural Change in Korea, Seoul National University press, Seoul.