Economic growth ‘not linked to reduction in child undernutrition in India’
March 9th, 2011 - 6:03 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Mar 9 (ANI): A new study has found that economic growth in India has no automatic connection to reducing undernutrition in Indian children.
Researchers at the Schools of Public Health at University of Michigan and Harvard University said further reductions in the prevalence of childhood undernutrition are likely to depend on direct investments in health and health-related programs.
Malavika Subramanyam, S V Subramanian and colleagues collected data from the National Family Health Surveys conducted in India in 1992-93 (28,066 children), 1998-99 (26,121 children) and 2005-06 (23,139 children), which use stratified, representative samples of the population from every state of India.
They used the measurements-weight-for-age, height-for-age, and weight-for-height-in these surveys to classify individual children’s nutritional status as underweight, stunting or wasting, respectively, as per the WHO Child Growth Standards.
The study reported that the prevalence of underweight decreased from 49.1 percent in 1992-93 to 43.8 percent in 1998-99 to 40.2 percent in 2005-06.
Stunting prevalence also decreased while the prevalence of wasting decreased only marginally from 24 percent in 1992-93 to 22 percent in 2005-06. Meanwhile, during the study period, the Indian economy grew at an annual rate of 7 -9 percent.
Further, there was substantial variation between states in each of the measures of undernutrition, as well as economic growth, and this enabled the authors to examine whether changes in state economic growth were associated with a reduction in the risk of a child being undernourished in a given state.
The authors found that state economic growth was not associated with the risk of underweight, stunting, and wasting.
“We failed to find consistent evidence that economic growth leads to reduction in childhood undernutrition in India,” said the researchers.
“Direct investments in appropriate health interventions may be necessary to reduce childhood undernutrition in India,” they concluded.
The findings are published in this week’s PLoS Medicine. (ANI)
- 42 percent children under five underweight: Report - Jan 10, 2012
- India's march for Millennium Development Goals uneven: Report - Sep 12, 2010
- Shorter mothers spell higher death rates for kids - Apr 21, 2010
- Malnutrition higher in children born to child brides - Jan 22, 2010
- Salient features of report on malnutrition and hunger - Jan 10, 2012
- WHO raises alarm over nutrition - Aug 09, 2011
- New approach for monitoring child health in developing countries - Feb 02, 2011
- Malnutrition a matter of national shame: PM - Jan 10, 2012
- Nearly 50 percent of Indian women marry before 18: Unicef - Nov 20, 2009
- Under-nutrition unacceptably high despite GDP growth: PM - Jan 10, 2012
- Do more to combat hunger, say NGOs (Oct 16 is World Food Day) - Oct 15, 2010
- Asia-Pacific unlikely to meet hunger, child mortality goals - Feb 17, 2012
- Maternal mortality rate down by half in South Asia: UN - Jul 08, 2011
- Iodized salt usage up by 20 percent in rural households: Study - Apr 25, 2011
- Families with low salaries have malnourished children: CRY - Apr 28, 2011
Tags: children researchers, colleagues, consistent evidence, economic growth, family health, further reductions, harvard university, health surveys, indian economy, measurements, nutritional status, prevalence, representative samples, schools of public health, state of india, study period, subramanian, substantial variation, undernutrition, university of michigan