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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Dealing with malnutrition: Why Indian women must eat with families -Charu Bahri

Dealing with malnutrition: Why Indian women must eat with families -Charu Bahri

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published Published on Jul 25, 2017   modified Modified on Jul 25, 2017
-Hindustan Times/ IndiaSpend

A two-year-old project in Rajasthan used an unusual strategy to break this pattern among poor tribal communities. Instead of simply increasing their food supply and access — the standard approach for dealing with malnutrition — it attempted to break the tradition of prioritising men’s needs first.

When the women of this southwestern Rajasthan village sat down to eat, it was usually after the rest of the family had finished its meal — the men first, the children next and themselves last.

This is a common practice in many Indian households, but among the rural poor it makes women and children, some of the weakest in the world, hungrier and sicklier, sparking a cascade of slow development, eventually implicated in holding back national economic progress.

“Particularly among the rural poor, food distribution in households is not based on need,” reads Right to Food in India, a 2003 paper of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad. “The breadwinner gets sufficient food, the children get the next share, and women take the remains.”

A two-year-old project in Rajasthan used an unusual strategy to break this pattern among poor tribal communities in the southwestern district of Sirohi and eastern district of Banswara. Instead of simply increasing their food supply and access — the standard approach for dealing with malnutrition — it attempted to break the tradition of prioritising men’s needs first.

“We were advised to serve meals only after all the family members are seated so that everyone gets served equally and we discuss food,” said Rukmani (who uses only one name), one of the project beneficiaries.

Behind this strategy of the Rajasthan Nutrition Project, launched in 2015, was a baseline survey of 403 women. It revealed that those with a lesser say in running their household were more likely to have less food for their children and were themselves vulnerable to malnutrition.

Malnutrition is one of the leading causes (about 50%) of all childhood deaths in India, and malnourishment at an early age can lead to long-term consequences, as it affects motor, sensory, cognitive, social and emotional development, IndiaSpend reported in July 2014.

“Stunted children (low height for age) face a lifetime of lost opportunities in education and work,” said a global study called End of Childhood Report 2017. “They are also more likely to succumb to illness and disease, and can die as a result.” Only one child in 10 in India gets adequate nutrition, IndiaSpend reported in May 2017.

So, the Rajasthan campaign, executed by Freedom from Hunger India Trust and Grameen Foundation, both nonprofits, through local partners Pradan and Vaagdhara, made women more health and nutrition-aware and sensitised their husbands to gender equality.

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Hindustan Times/ IndiaSpend, 22 July, 2017, http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/dealing-with-malnutrition-why-indian-women-must-eat-with-families/story-mMUdYqwJOq4QWAwsKvVm0H.html


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