05-05-2006, 12:38 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Every second child in India is malnourished: Unicef </b>
Pioneer.com
Navneet Anand | Delhi
The darker side of Incredible India is that a whopping 57 million children in India are undernourished, making its rate of malnutrition the same as that of Ethiopia (47 per cent). It is not the lack of food but rather its distribution which is perpetuating this crisis.
<b>Considering that malnutrition is one of the primary reasons for half of the 2.1 million annual child deaths in India, the revelation is alarming</b>. Caught unawares, the Government is contemplating putting in greater emphasis on child and mother healthcare in the the 11th Five Year Plan.
The findings which are part of Unicef's global report on malnutrition, 'Progress for Children', released on Wednesday, further says that the whole South Asian region is gripped with this problem. At the current rate of progress the Millennium Development Goals of halving the child hunger by 2015 will not be reached until 2025.
Each year more than 600,000 under-5 child deaths could be averted in India if a handful of simple health interventions along with correct infant feeding were to be universally applied, according to Unicef. "Correct breastfeeding and complimentary feeding will have a huge impact," said Cecilio Adorna, the Unicef representative to India.
Unicef regional director for South Asia Cecilia Lotse said: "Insufficient quantity of food is less to blame for child undernutrition than poor food quality, women's low social status, early marriage and poor sanitation."
The report comes as a rude shock to the Government as it unveils the vulnerability of reaching benefits of its programmes to intended beneficiaries.
Reva Nayyar, secretary, Ministry of women and child development, besides contesting the figures said that employment guarantee scheme and National Rural Health Mission are putting good emphasis on women and child health.
She added that besides the expansion of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), the problem is also likely to figure prominently in the 11th FYP
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pioneer.com
Navneet Anand | Delhi
The darker side of Incredible India is that a whopping 57 million children in India are undernourished, making its rate of malnutrition the same as that of Ethiopia (47 per cent). It is not the lack of food but rather its distribution which is perpetuating this crisis.
<b>Considering that malnutrition is one of the primary reasons for half of the 2.1 million annual child deaths in India, the revelation is alarming</b>. Caught unawares, the Government is contemplating putting in greater emphasis on child and mother healthcare in the the 11th Five Year Plan.
The findings which are part of Unicef's global report on malnutrition, 'Progress for Children', released on Wednesday, further says that the whole South Asian region is gripped with this problem. At the current rate of progress the Millennium Development Goals of halving the child hunger by 2015 will not be reached until 2025.
Each year more than 600,000 under-5 child deaths could be averted in India if a handful of simple health interventions along with correct infant feeding were to be universally applied, according to Unicef. "Correct breastfeeding and complimentary feeding will have a huge impact," said Cecilio Adorna, the Unicef representative to India.
Unicef regional director for South Asia Cecilia Lotse said: "Insufficient quantity of food is less to blame for child undernutrition than poor food quality, women's low social status, early marriage and poor sanitation."
The report comes as a rude shock to the Government as it unveils the vulnerability of reaching benefits of its programmes to intended beneficiaries.
Reva Nayyar, secretary, Ministry of women and child development, besides contesting the figures said that employment guarantee scheme and National Rural Health Mission are putting good emphasis on women and child health.
She added that besides the expansion of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), the problem is also likely to figure prominently in the 11th FYP
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->