-The Telegraph The team of doctors investigating the deaths found no trace of litchi in at least 40 per cent of children who died A team of doctors investigating the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) deaths in Muzaffarpur has claimed that the attribution to litchi is likely to be wrong and that it found no trace of litchi in at least 40 per cent of children who succumbed to AES-like symptoms in the...
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31.4% of Indian children will be stunted by 2022: report
-The Hindu Country needs to double its efforts to control malnutrition Almost one in three Indian children under five years will still be stunted by 2022 going by current trends, according to an analysis of the country’s food and nutrition security released on Tuesday. Over the last decade, child stunting — which is a measure of chronic malnutrition — has reduced at a rate of about 1% per year, the slowest decline...
More »Dr. Arun Shah, a Muzaffarpur-based paediatrician, interviewed by Banjot Kaur (Down to Earth)
-Down to Earth Arun Shah, a Muzaffarpur-based paediatrician who has researched on the syndrome, says the fruit is only a triggering factor for malnourished children Litchi is being most commonly blamed for the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) outbreak in Bihar. The mystery fever has already killed more than 100 children in Muzaffarpur district, renowned for its litchi crop. However, experts say it is grossly wrong to blame this fruit Down To Earth spoke...
More »Fix healthcare now, or future shock is certain -Patralekha Chatterjee
-Deccan Chronicle Encephalopathy is a disease in which the functioning of the brain is affected. Whose children go to bed hungry? In a country with glaring social and economic disparities, hunger is a deeply political issue which many would like to dodge. But that is at the heart of the big story about the recent child deaths in Muzaffarpur, Bihar’s litchi growing belt. At the time of writing, more than 100 children are...
More »Stopping Muzaffarpur Child Deaths Will Require a Gender-Sensitive Social Analysis -Purnima Menon
-TheWire.in Due to its social determinants of malnutrition, Muzaffarpur offers a case study of a “perfect storm” of risk factors. Muzaffarpur is emblematic of a hot spot for undernutrition in India. With one in two children stunted, Muzaffarpur lags India’s average by ten percentage points. One in two women is anaemic and one in three is underweight. Although most infants are breastfed and exclusive breastfeeding is high, other aspects of infant diets...
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