Biggest killer of Indian kids: poverty, ignorance

BLEAK FUTURE: Most of the children in rural India are malnourished and have a weak immune system.

    

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Keywords: Malnourished, PHC

Zohra is aware that her son is malnourished and needs special care. But there's little she can do to follow the doctor's orders.

"Bataya hai machli hai, anda hai, dudh hai, yeh sab usko khilayen. Yeh sab toh hai hi nahi toh kaha se khilaye, roti toh hai hi nahi toh yeh sab kaha se laate (We have been advised to give him fish, egg and milk, But we can't buy these food items. We don't even have chapatis so how can we get such expensive food)," Zohra says.

Millions like Shamim fight hunger everyday. There has been almost no change in the country's malnutrition rates over the last decade.

The second National Family Health Survey conducted in 1998-1999 showed that 47 per cent children were undernourished.

And in 2005-06, the third National Family Health Survey shows pretty much the same results at 46 per cent.

Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh is one district where about 60 per cent children are malnourished. In the last nine months, in Talbahat block alone, 183 cases were reported, out of which 116 were severe.

Local doctors say the biggest challenge is convincing parents that their children are undernourished.

"Pata hi nai hai unko. Yahan aake unko samjhaya jata hai ki bachcha bahut hi zyada weak hai. Apko yahan treatment dene ki zaroorat hai. Admit kijiye. Bahut convince karke unhen yahan admit karna padta hai (They are not at all aware that there children are malnourished. We have to convince them to admit their children and start the treatment)." Shilpi Sahariya, a Nutrition Counselor at a Community Health Centre, says.

Hargovind is bringing up his three children all by himself. He lost his wife Sudha, to kidney failure.

After their fourth child, Sudha had become extremely weak and anemic. Soon after she died, their youngest child, Anil was also fighting to survive.

"Anil teen saal ka bachha tha hamare yahana aur 5.8kg weight tha uska Grade 4 malnourished tha saath mein infection bhi thi acute gastritis tha jiski vajah se jo bhi khana dete the usko digest nahin ho paata tha (Anil was three-year-old and weighed just 5.8 kgs. He was Grade 4 malnourished and was also suffering from acute gastritis and so could not digest anything)," Shilpi explains.

"Agar maa na marti toh bachcha bhi nahin mar sakat. Matlab matai toh matai hoti hai, matai paal leti hai, baap nahin paal pata hai. Baap kahe nahin paal paata hai ki dekho agar ghar baithe toh bachchon ko ka khilaye? Aur bhi teen bachcha hai. Unko kya khilaye? (If his mother had not died he too would have not died. A mother can bring up a child but not a father. If the father sits at home and looks after the children how can he earn and feed them? I have three more children)," Hargovind says.

Three-year-old Anil was one of the 2 million children that die of hunger in our country every year. His family didn't even realize he was malnourished until he fell sick and was taken to the hospital.