Why Malnutrition
Deaths Contiue
To Happen In Madhya Pradesh ?
By K. Kumar
27 July,
2008
Countercurrents.org
More than half of all child
deaths are associated with malnutrition, which weakens the body's
resistance to illness. Poor diet, frequent illness, and inadequate
or inattentive care of young children can lead to malnutrition. If
a woman is malnourished during pregnancy, or if her child is malnourished
during the first two years of life, the child's physical and mental
growth and development may be slowed. This cannot be made up when
the child is older – it will affect the child for the rest of
his or her life.
Children have the right to a caring, protective environment and to nutritious food and basic health care to protect them from illness and promote growth and development.
60 % of
Madhya Pradesh children are suffering with malnutrition. Madhya Pradesh
is only state wherein malnutrition rose from 55 % to 60 %, in period
of 2001 – 2007, which is alarming. It is an indication that
Madhya Pradesh was unable to control malnutrition among children and
steps taken by it all these years had failed.
Now let us look at the steps which were taken by the state government
to reduce malnutrition. In the year 2001 department of women and child
development on suggestion of unicef started bal sanjeevani programme
which was drive to weigh children across the state. It was one of
the solution provided by unicef, worlds largest children agency on
children to control malnutrition. We had 'drives after drive' of bal
sanjeevani but nothing changed. We were able to reach out to children,
weigh them, but did not provide them with treatment and vaccination
which they wanted. Their was no effort by the state to work on food
security, addressing the issue at community level. Hunger and malnutrition
deaths continue to happen. Malnutrition increased. Now even unicef
does not mention about bal sanjeevani. Then department of women and
child development announced number of schemes like bal shakti, bal
gopal, shaktiman, and many others with similar names, all of them
were a short cut but to prove to media that state is taking steps.
Not much
effort was done to make ICDS integrated child development scheme in
the state work and do what it was meant to do. MP does not even have
the number of anganwadi centres which it needs. Department of women
and child is constructing a new building for its office at a time
when chidren even dont have aganwadi centres. Now new solution has
been found,unicef in Madhya Pradesh says that nutritional rehabilitation
centres will help take care of severe malnourished children. These
are now being established by department of health and family welfare.
No doubt they will severe malnourished prevent children to die but
again it will help some children even for them what happens when they
go back to their homes. Their is no follow up after the child goes
away from these centres. I would like to mention here that building
institutions are not a solution.This is again opposite to what unicef
says globally. Unicef in its technical paper on severe malnutrition
stresses on community approach but why in Madhya Pradesh it talks
different. Children are dying in mp. There is no mechanism at community
level to tackle malnutrition, no effort to tackle food security, promote
feeding practices, breastfeeding and make ICDS to respond to people's
need.
Recenetly speakers office had held meeting to oversee the situation
with departments and un organsiation. This was good step but respected
speaker saheb if these people dont have solutions. They have failed.
You should not. Why doesnt every legislator go to field and see what
is happening ?. Sitting in Bhopal in air conditioned offices no solutions
can be found. Even it is call to right to food, they need to shake
the system, these meetings will not help. Tell them the solution and
let supreme court does the ruling or else deaths will continue to
happen. Please do not fall prey to the goody goody words that are
said in these meetings, nothing is going to change all of them were
their to prove that they are 'doing something' and get space in media
of their action. It is painful to see even media reporting on these
fancy meetings.
