India’s Alarming Child Malnutrition Rate

by Dan Morrison

Thursday June 11, 2009 at 10:00pm, EST

The New York Times recently published an article about the alarming child malnutrition rate in India. Although the Indian economy has grown tremendously in the past decade, the child malnutrition rate in India is worse than in many sub-Saharan African countries.

42.5% of all children under the age of five in India are underweight, whereas in China, the other Asian powerhouse, only seven percent (7%) of children under the age of five are underweight.

There are no simple explanations for India’s alarming child malnutrition rate. Although India operates the largest child feeding program in the world through a network of soup kitchens, experts agree that the program is inadequate.

Providing nutrition to children under the age of two is essential. However, the Indian program does not specifically target this crucial age group and the food that is fed to them is often lacking in vital micronutrients. Also, many of the soup kitchens do not have scales and therefore cannot identify and hone in on at-risk children. Many Indian mothers are ill fed and underweight, and they give birth to low weight babies that they do not know how to properly feed. The Indian Feeding Program has largely ignored the health of mothers and has not sufficiently educated them on how to feed their children.

Although India’s child feeding program has made some gains over the past thirty years, progress has remained slow, and ultimately the system is failing to make substantial progress.
India’s booming economic growth can easily deceive people into believing that extreme hunger in India has drastically been reduced. However hunger and child malnutrition are still pressing problems in India, especially in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, both of which have recently experienced extremely high rates of economic growth.

1Well is currently supporting several childcare centers in the states Gujarat and Rajasthan with the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), 1Well’s field partner in India. These centers are critical in providing children up to age 6 with quality childcare, they also provide children with three hot and nutritious meals a day in addition to outreach meetings with village mothers on child nutrition. 1Well and SEWA are proud to support nutrition programs and childcare centers in Dungra Village, Vera Village , and Sedla Village.

Projects such as the Vera Childcare Center must continue in India, because despite a booming economy the need is still there. To become a SVC for a 1Well Childcare Center project, please visit http://www.1well.org/available_projects