CAG MANTHAN NOURISH TO FLOURISH:REDUCING

MALNUTRITION

SUBMITTED BY:

SHREYA PAUL,

RITIKA SINGH,

NEHA OLI,

PRERNA AGARWAL,

NEHA CHAUDHARY

MIRANDA HOUSE, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI

INTRODUCTION.... Nutrition is a human right, which forms the basis for

economic, social and human development, hence good nutrition throughout is a pre-requisite to good health.

An optimal nutrition ensures the proper development of a

child’s brain and body cells, enabling them to grow into productive adults who could contribute to the development of the society.

WHAT IS MALNUTRITION? Malnutrition refers to the situation where there is an unbalanced diet in which some nutrients are in excess, lacking or wrong proportion.

TWO TYPES OF MALNUTRTION

UNDER-NUTRITION

OVER-NUTRITION

MALNUTRITION IN INDIA : FACTS AND STATS India remained home to more than a fourth of

the world’s hungry, 230 million people in all.

The latest Global Hunger Index described hunger in Madhya Pradesh, a destitute state in central India, as “extremely alarming”.

One in every three malnourished children in the world lives in India. about 50 per cent of all childhood deaths are attributed to malnutrition.

Around 46 per cent of all children below the age of three are too small for their age.

47 per cent are underweight and at least 16 per cent are wasted.

India ranks 66 out of 88 countries on the 2008 Global Hunger Index (GHI).

India is home to the world’s largest food insecure population, with more than 200 million people who are hungry.

All Indian states have at least a “serious” level of hunger; there is not a single state with low or even moderate levels.

Twelve states fall into the “alarming” category and one (Madhya Pradesh) is considered to have an “extremely alarming” level of hunger

CAUSES OF MALNUTRITION PRIMARY CAUSES SECONDARY CAUSES Population Explosion. Household food insecurity. Poor access to health

services. Lack of availability of safe

drinking water. Poor sanitation and

environmental conditions and low purchasing power etc.

Poor breastfeeding practices. Poor complementary feeding

practices. Ignorance about nutritional

needs of infants and young children and repeated infections further aggravate the situation.

Gender inequality. Illiteracy specially in

women. Early marriages of girls. Teenage pregnancies

resulting in low birth weight of the newborns.

Number of other factors such as environmental, geographical, agricultural, and cultural including various other factors have contributive effects resulting in malnutrition.

OTHER CAUSES ARE...

GENDER INEQUALITY:MOST FATAL CAUSE OF MALNUTRITION

Unfavourable status of women affects their health status and especially their female children both directly and indirectly.

Even in households that have enough food, the way of distributing it may leave women inadequately nourished.

The lack of nourishment puts women at particular risk during their childbearing years.

Education and labour force participation have an influence on maternal health and can also be seen as distal causes of malnutrition founded in gender inequality.

The extensive physical labour that women must perform, combined with men being given preference in the distribution of food, accounts for malnutrition among Indian women which has devastating consequences for maternal health.

CONSEQUENCES

Undernourished children have significantly lower chances of survival than children who are well-nourished.

They are much more prone to serious infections and to die from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea, measles, malaria, pneumonia, and HIV and AIDS.

Iodine deficiency is known to affect a child’s Intelligence Quotient (IQ) adversely. It has also been established that children with deficient growth before age two are at an increased risk of chronic disease as adults, especially if they gain weight rapidly in the later stages of childhood

A low birth weight baby, who is stunted and underweight in its infancy and gains weight rapidly in childhood and adult life, is much more prone to chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

SOLUTIONS There is overwhelming evidence to suggest that tackling child under-nutrition

requires a life-cycle approach, which implies that different interventions are needed at different stages in the life of a woman (during adolescence and pre-pregnancy as well as during pregnancy and after the birth of the child) and of a child (immediately at birth, up to six months, 6-23 months and 24-59 months). Listed below are such eight critical technical interventions.

1. Improve breastfeeding practices in the first six months of life by ensuring that: • All newborns start breastfeeding within one hour after birth (early initiation); • All newborns are fed the nutrient-rich colostrum in the first three-to-four days of life

(colostrum feeding). 2. Improve foods and feeding practices for children 6-23 months old by ensuring that

complementary foods are rich in energy, protein, and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).

SOLUTIONS.....

3. Control micronutrient deficiencies and anaemia in adolescent girls and women by ensuring that:

• Anaemia is prevented in adolescent girls and pregnant women through supplementation programmes with iron and folic acid and deworming tablets.

• Iodine deficiency is prevented in adolescent girls and women by ensuring that all salt for direct human consumption contains adequate levels of iodine.

4. Provide quality care for children with severe under-nutrition by ensuring that:

• Cases of severe acute under-nutrition are managed at home with simplified protocols and also clinically (wherever required) under appropriate medical supervision.

5.Improving the quality of mid day meals. 6.Setting up feeding centres in different parts of the

country. 7.Malnutrition can also be combated by donating food like

eggs, milk etc to pregnant woman who are underprivileged.

8.Implementing the concept of golden rice. Golden rice is one of the most nutrient rich and affordable rice varieties.

IMPLEMENTATION

The solutions mentioned in the last slide require very strict interdisciplinary laws and boundations in order to bear an exemplary outcome.

This grievous problem is strong enough to shake the bland moral beliefs of every Indian to individually take a stand not at the country front but; at least creating public awareness at family, society and state level.

The non-governmental organizations working in this field must be supported by raising funds,donations,and becoming a part of their fund raising campaigns, shows and protests,etc.

Government should ensure that a beneficial percent of the tax collected on governmental services, goods and products, as well as the benefits obtained through the import-export duties, tourism ,etc should reach the helping hands of the country within safe time and place limit.

REFERENCES... "World Bank Report“- "World Bank

Report on Malnutrition in India" "2011 Global Hunger Index

Report". International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

"Journal of the American Medical Association"."The global burden of chronic diseases.”

"Turning the tide of malnutrition". World Health Organization.

"The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition".

"NFHS-3 Nutritional Status of Adults“ "Child Development Website"

"Programs to address malnutrition in India