Experts say malnutrition, which is highly prevalent in India, increases susceptibility of children to infections such as measles, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria.
Approximately 72 out of every 1,000 children die before they attain five years of age in the country. The causes range from neonatal to diarrhoeal (see table), show Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group statistics available as part of World Health Organisation data.
Shama, a four-year-old malnourished child from Madhya Pradesh’s (MP’s) Jhabua district, died of diarrhoea in December last year. Her father cultivates four acres of land but could harvest only four bags of maize in 2009. This forced the family to migrate and put Shama at an increased risk of food insecurity and made her vulnerable to infections such as diarrhoea.
Experts say malnutrition, which is highly prevalent in India, increases susceptibility of children to infections such as measles, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria.
“A malnourished infected child is at an 18% to 20% higher risk of death,” Sachin Kumar Jain, adviser to the Supreme Court commission on right to food in MP, said.
In Orissa, a poor state inflicted with malnutrition, the districts of Nayagarh, Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Kalahandi and Kandhamal have registered more than 10,000 malaria cases per 1 lakh population, shows data accessed by DNA.
Ajay Khare, convener of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Madhya Pradesh, said malnourished children do not get proteins, carbohydrates, iron supplements, vitamin B, calcium, etc, because poverty limits their access to food.
Moreover, neonatal fatalities (mortality within 28 days of birth), which make up 45% of the under-5 deaths, are rampant in India due to factors such as low birth weight and anaemic and malnourished mothers.
Iron deficiency is a prime cause of anaemia among women. VK Rai, director of centre for environment and rural technology, UP, said 40,000 mothers died due to the deficiency in the state every year.
Nitin Shah, former president of Indian Academy of Paediatrics and a consultant paediatrician at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai, said causes of neonatal deaths ranged from inflammation such as sepsis to asphyxiation. “Low birth weight also leads to disease and death.”
N Karthik Nagesh, head of neonatology at Manipal Hospital, Bangalore, said lack of early breastfeeding predisposed babies to infections. The other causes of under-5 mortality are pneumonia and diarrhoea. These kill over 2 lakh and 1 lakh under-5 kids a year in India.
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