Value your Meal - Child Malnutrition

“Lose Weight” has been one of the top New Year's resolutions all over the world every year. Isn’t it?. How many of us have been struggling to cut-down our food intake and lose a few extra kilograms ? For people like us, It’s difficult to even understand the issues of malnutrition and to realize on what a blessing it is to have a full healthy meal every day.

It was shocking to know the tragedies and impacts of “malnourished children”; and to know that one third of them are in the world lives in India. Everyone wants India to become a “Super Power”, but the hunger and undernourishment data on Indian citizens especially among children comes as big shock. The Rapid Survey on Children (RSoC) was conducted by the ministry of women and child development with  technical support from UNICEF. It found:- 

• Underweight (low in weight for their age)  = 29.4 % (aged < 3 yr.)
• Wasted (low weight for their height)           = 15 %
• Stunted (low in height for age)                    = 38.7%

The latest NFHS (National Family Health Survey -2015) shows the malnutrition numbers are reducing; but in par with our population and GDP, the numbers are still scary and worrisome😢 .

Reason behind such poor malnourishment  figures are numerous factors, however primary among them are  – poor pre & post-natal care of women leading to anemic women giving birth to under weight babies, lack of public healthcare infrastructure to give proper healthcare services to our citizens. Still most of the people in rural villages are less aware of the importance and implications of proper nutrition.

Because so much development occurs in the first few years of life, nutrient deficiencies can have major short-term implications in young children. Malnourishment can greatly compromise a child’s immune system, making them more susceptible to infectious diseases. Additionally, a deficiency in one nutrient may lead to a deficiency in another nutrient and as a result the overall growth gets distorted.

As these kids grow, they face a multifold of growth and cognitive issues : such as Attention deficit disorder, Impaired school performance, Decreased IQ, Memory deficiency, Learning disabilities, Reduced social skills..etc. Don’t we still see many unaware parents still yelling at their kids for their poor performance in schools, without checking their health & nutrition 👀.

I am not qualified to give a suggestion; but I strongly believe that any comprehensive strategy for resolving the problem of child malnutrition must include actions to address both its underlying and basic causes. Creating a lot of awareness  and focus more on the Women health will have a greater improvement.

Ignoring hunger and malnutrition will have significant costs to any country’s development. Government must step-forward to allocate more funds in efficient channels to curb this dangerous issue.  Every rupee invested on curbing malnutrition will definitely give a greater return to the growth of the country in future.

Let’s take a resolution to contribute for curbing hunger & child malnutrition – be it through your money (donation), time (volunteering), or mere thinking and spreading the word,… every effort will help the country.

#malnutrition  #hunger #unicef #MakeEachMealCount #BeAHungerHero #FI #cry #wfp

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Pon Paulraj