Lawrence Haddad is the Director of the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK. In 2009, he published an overview of studies by 30 Indian scientists on the causes of malnutrition in India. Haddad said that malnutrition is caused by more than a simple lack of food.
Lawrence Haddad: Malnutrition is about dirty water which makes a kid so sick that even if they get food to eat, they can’t absorb it in their guts. Malnutrition is about parents not having enough time or knowledge to feed their kids every hour when they’re very young, or with the right kind of food.
Haddad told EarthSky that malnutrition in India remains something of an mystery. He said that in other developing countries, when income goes up, malnutrition goes down by 3-4%. But, even with India’s booming economy, the numbers of malnourished children have remained practically the same. Haddad’s research has led him to believe that the problem may rest with lack of governmental organization.
Lawrence Haddad: Malnutrition is one of those issues that falls between a number of ministries, a number of departments. It’s not Agriculture, it’s not Health, it’s not Women’s Empowerment, it’s not Social Progress. It’s everybody’s business but nobody’s responsibility, and we could see that pattern at every level.
He said malnutrition is affecting children under three most severely and can cause irreversible brain damage that may not be easily observed. Malnutrition is difficult to tackle, he said, because it requires enormous amounts of behavior change.
Lawrence Haddad: One of the things we suggested is that the Indian government focus on getting kids breastfed in the first hour of their life. Getting kids breastfed has been shown to reduce neonatal mortality by 20%. That has to be done at the point of the delivery.
Haddad got his malnutrition data from the Indian government itself, which had surveyed the weight to age ratios of thousands of children across the country. He talked more about the 0-2 year old age group, and how that group suffers the most severe damage from malnutrition. He said a governmental branch called ICDS has been effective at feeding undernourished 3-6 year olds, but not 0-2s.
Lawrence Haddad: The community center worker, usually there’s just one worker for about 100 to 200 households, and she’s pretty preoccupied with food preparation and food serving for 3-6 years olds, there’s no time for her to take care at 0-2 year olds. So the 0-2′s are either taken care of badly, or they aren’t brought to those community centers at all.
He said that most other developing countries have developed infrastructure in dealing with infants and toddlers, but that in India, there a political turf war between several government agencies, with no one in particular responsible for malnutrition in that lower age group. He expressed alarm, saying that it may take political pressure from outside of India to change the situation.
certain outside interests already seem to exert undue political pressure in India, and behavior change can only happen when India’s poorest populations are served by their government rather than sold. it’s impossible for social welfare agencies – inside or out of developing countries – to change infant feeding practices in the face of the millions of dollars spent by baby ‘food’ giants on marketing their products. groups like IBFAN and Baby Milk Action are trying, but…there must be some impetus from inside the country to face the fact that they may have to sever powerful financial ties in order to secure the health and well-being of their future citizens.
A thoughtful and well-informed comment. I think that’s what Dr. Haddad was suggesting when he said this: “…it may take political pressure from outside of India to change the situation.”
oh, absolutely! i wonder, though, how even well-intentioned outside political pressure will be received if the country’s key decision makers are already bought? even developed countries can’t seem to acknowledge that children’s health should take precedence over industry interests: (http://www.babymilkaction.org/press/press23dec09.html)
such a tough, textured issue, and the effect on India’s (and the global) economy of so many chronically ill future citizens is mind-boggling…
EDUCATION is what is necessary to change the situation. The parents need to know what is “nutrition”, for starters. As far as food is concerned, it has always been “quantity” and not “quality” for the poor population. Literacy alone in the rural areas is not sufficient; we need education. With proper education, the economy improves and there is a chance that corruption is reduced with everyone getting a better deal…
I agree with Ganesh–it is only through education that we will liberate the minds of people trapped in patterns they cannot break.
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This is a great idea!!!