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NEWS ALERTS | One-third of West Bengal kids stunted & underweight, says NFHS-4
One-third of West Bengal kids stunted & underweight, says NFHS-4

One-third of West Bengal kids stunted & underweight, says NFHS-4

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published Published on Jan 21, 2016   modified Modified on Aug 29, 2022

 

A French journalist once wrote: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Perhaps the same can be said about nutritional status of children in West Bengal at present in comparison to the past.

At the time when Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, was entertaining private capital in Singur and Nandigram, the rate of undernutrition was quite high in his state. A little less than one-fifth of the children under 5 years of age were suffering from wasting, almost half the children of that age-group were stunted, and a little over one-third were underweight (please check chart-1 for the exact data provided by National Family Health Survey-3).

It is not the case that investment was not essential at that juncture, but what was lacking during that moment of Communist Party rule in West Bengal was a social policy to ensure food and social security of the poor and needy. Such pro-poor and populist policies were already in vogue in many Latin American countries such as Bolsa Família programme in Brazil, Programa Nacional de Alimentacao Escolar (National School Feeding Programme) in Brazil, Prospera (social assistance welfare) programme in Mexico etc.

It is said that Lula da Silva won the Brazilian presidential election in 2006 due to the success of Bolsa Familia conditional cash transfer programme.

Almost a decade has passed since then. However, there has been no change in Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's outlook towards industrialization in West Bengal. Kicking off a rally in Singur on 16 January this year, Bhattacharjee blamed the present TMC-led government for stifling industrialization in the state. Almost a week before the Singur-Salboni long march, the State Government of West Bengal organized the Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata to attract private investment from various captains of industry.

Although the regime change in West Bengal took place in 2011 following the anti-land acquisition struggle against the erstwhile Left Front Government, there has been no significant improvement in the nutritional status of children.



The recently released National Family Health Survey-4 reveals that almost one-fifth of children under the age of 5 years are still suffering from wasting, nearly one-third are stunted, and almost one-third are underweight (please check chart-1 for the exact data provided by National Family Health Survey-4).

It is worth mentioning that in a recent opinion piece entitled Leaving no poor person behind, Jean Drèze (The Hindu, dated 13 January, 2016) informs us that the public distribution system (PDS) in West Bengal used to be based on a restrictive, outdated and faulty list of below poverty line (BPL) households. However, because of reforms undertaken for implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA), there is hope that PDS will eventually improve and serve the poor over the course of time. In his article, Drèze emphasizes that the new list prepared in West Bengal, based on the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC), is not only more inclusive than the previous BPL list, it is also more reliable.

Nutritional status of children

The first phase of the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16) data has come out for 13 states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand & West Bengal, and two Union Territories (UTs) of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry.

A comparison of NFHS-3 against NFHS-4 indicates that the proportion of children below 5 years of age with ‘moderate wasting’ has increased in Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Karnataka, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and West Bengal (See chart-1).

According to the UNICEF (please click here to access), wasting, or low weight for height, is a strong predictor of mortality among children under five years of age. Wasting occurs due to recent food deprivation or serious illness.

A comparison of NFHS-3 against NFHS-4 shows that the proportion of children below age 5 years with ‘moderate stunting’ has declined in most states, indicating improved intake of nutrition. In nine states/ UTs, less than one-third of children are found too short for their age. While this shows a distinct improvement since the previous survey, it is found that in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya more than 40 percent of children are stunted, says the Health Ministry in its press release.

According to the UNICEF (please click here to access), stunting, or low height for age, is caused by long-term insufficient nutrient intake and frequent infections. Stunting generally happens before two years of age, and the effects are largely irreversible. These include delayed motor development, impaired cognitive function and poor school performance.

Similarly, a comparison of NFHS-3 against NFHS-4 shows that the proportion of children below age 5 years who are 'moderately underweight' has reduced in most states. It is found that in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh more than 40 percent of children in that age-group are underweight.

It needs to be mentioned here that data on wasting, stunting and underweight was not collected by the Government for Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Puducherry and Telengana during NFHS-3. Stunting, wasting and underweight measures for NFHS-3 in chart-1 has been calculated on the basis of data accessed from http://rchiips.org/nfhs/report.shtml except for Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. For these 3 states, the NFHS-3 data has been taken from http://rchiips.org/nfhs/factsheet_NFHS-4.shtml.

 

 
Nutritional status of adult male and female

The Body Mass Index (kg per meter square) is used as an indicator to measure nutritional status of adults. If someone's BMI is below 18.5 kg per meter square, then s/he is suffering from Chronic Energy Deficiency (CED) and is underweight.


Based on the NFHS-4 data, one can say that the proportion of adult female (age 15-49 years) suffering from CED is highest in Bihar (30.4 percent) and lowest in Sikkim (6.4 percent). (Please check chart-2 for the exact data provided by National Family Health Survey-4).

Similarly, the proportion of adult male (age 15-49 years) suffering from CED is highest in Madhya Pradesh (28.4 percent) and lowest in Sikkim (2.4 percent).  

In all the states/ UTs (who's NFHS-4 data is available), the proportion of adult female suffering from CED exceeds that of adult male, except in Madhya Pradesh.


References:

National Family Health Survey-4, http://rchiips.org/nfhs/factsheet_NFHS-4.shtml

National Family Health Survey-3, http://rchiips.org/nfhs/report.shtml

Health Ministry releases results from 1st phase of NFHS-4 survey, Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 19 January, 2016, please click here to access

The State of Social Safety Nets 2015, World Bank, July 2015, please click here to access

IFPRI report shows under-nutrition has fallen, please click here to access

Child Malnutrition declining, though not fast enough, please click here to access 

Doubts over Maharashtra's Nutritional Progress?, please click here to access 

50% of kids in 10 states anaemic: Survey, The Times of India, 20 January, 2016, please click here to access

Most Indians are healthier, says govt health survey -Jyotsna Singh, Livemint.com, 20 January, 2016, please click here to access
 
India still has a high rate of malnutrition, reveals new National Health Survey -Kundan Pandey, Down to Earth, 19 January, 2016, please click here to access
 
More than half of country's women, kids still anaemic: Survey, Deccan Herald/ PTI, 19 January, 2016, please click here to access

Buddha trumpets industry tune at Singur, calls for anti-TMC combine, The Telegraph/PTI, 16 January, 2016, please click here to access

Leaving no poor person behind -Jean Drèze, The Hindu, 13 January, 2016, please click here to access
 
Bengal Global Business Summit: Mamata Banerjee woos industry, Jaitley promises support -Aniruddha Ghosal, The Indian Express, 9 January, 2016, please click here to access
 
India strike over police shooting -Subir Bhaumik, BBC, 16 March, 2007, please click here to access
  
NAPM Report: To Nandigram via Singur -Aditya Nigam, Kafila.org, 27 February, 2007, please click here to access
 
Cash Aid Program Bolsters Lula's Reelection Prospects -Monte Reel, Washington Post, 29 October, 2006, please click here to access
 
Nutritional Status of Rural Population: Report of NNMB Surveys 1994-95 (NCAER), published in 1996, please click here to access
 
Image Courtesy: UNDP India


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