Half the slum children are malnourished

While adults, especially men, in slum areas show high incidence of obesity putting them to risk of lifestyle diseases, nearly one in two children suffer from malnourishment problems.

These shocking statistics are part of a study carried out by a team of doctors from the community medicine department of DY Patil Medical College that has been published in the latest issue of Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.

Dr Amitav Banerjee, lead author of the article, said a total of 3,424 people of all age groups were surveyed in urban slums of Pune and surrounding rural areas for various parameters. Out of these, 865 people including 200 children were assessed for health problems, access or utilisation of health services and health insurance.

“Access to basic determinants of good health such as housing, water and sanitation wasn’t good with more than 50% of respondents living in poor housing and unsanitary conditions. As far as utilisation of government services goes, six out of ten people preferred private over public hospitals. Despite the fact that more than 80% were uninsured resulting in high out of pocket medical expenses,” said Dr Banerjee.

However, the most disturbing fact is the paradox in health of adults and children. While 25% adults were overweight and at risk of lifestyle diseases, nearly 48% of under-five children suffered from various grades of malnutrition.

“Malnutrition is a vicious circle of undernourishment, infection and ignorance. It’s true that the paradox was visible and if people start visiting government hospitals, the malnourishment in kids could come down. The kids had poor immunisation. If they visit government hospitals, at least immunisation can be taken care of and kids can be better protected. But parents prefer private hospitals,” said Dr JS Bhawalkar, co-author of the study.

However, dissatisfaction with government services (30.88%), long queues (35.38%), non-availability of drugs (31%), poor quality of services (22.36%) drive the poor away from government hospitals.
The study has been jointly authored by Dr SL Jadhav, Dr Hetal Rathod and Dr DT Khedkar. It suggests improving services at government hospitals taking into consideration problems encountered by people in accessing services.