Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Arshi Qureshi
As per the data of the Union women and child development (WCD) ministry, Maharashtra has the highest number of malnourished children. However, Right to Information (RTI) reported that 283 children died in Melghat (Amravati) alone in 2015–2016, and there were around 17,000 such deaths in the entire State.
The Maharashtra government informed the State Legislative Assembly on Wednesday that no child has died in the State as a result of malnutrition in the last year.
Maharashtra Tribal Welfare Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijaykumar Gavit said that according to data from the Women and Child and Public Health Ministry, no child had died from malnutrition in any Zilla (district) in Maharashtra.
As per the data of the Union women and child development (WCD) ministry, Maharashtra has the highest number of malnourished children.
However, Right to Information (RTI) reported that 283 children died in Melghat (Amravati) alone in 2015–2016, and there were around 17,000 such deaths in the entire State.
Here we compare NFHS-4 and NFHS - 5 data from Maharashtra health ministry.
According to data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4, less than 10% of all Indian children between the ages of 6 and 23 months have access to an adequate diet.
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) - 5 (2019-2021) data states that the neonatal mortality rate (NMR) was 16.5% , infant mortality rate (U5MR) was 23.2%, and under five mortality rate was 28%.
Children’s nutrition status in Maharashtra has hardly changed since NFHS-4.
The percentage of children who are stunted increased from 34% to 35% in four years between NFHS-4 and NFHS - 5, the percentage of underweight children have not changed and remains at 36%. The percentage of wasted children also remains the same at 26%.
The infant mortality rate as per NFHS - 5 is estimated at 23 deaths before the age of one year, per 1,000 lives. NFHS-4 estimate was 24 deaths. The under five mortality rate was estimated at 28 deaths in NFHS - 5 and 29 deaths in NFHS-4.
The state reports to the Bombay High Court mentions that 6,582 children have died from malnutrition between April 2019 and April 2022. In an affidavit issued in April 2022, the state administration acknowledged that during these 39 months, the number of children with severe acute malnutrition increased by over 26,000 while the number of children with intermediate acute malnutrition increased by over one lakh.
The 2016 data from the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) for Maharashtra shows that 1,588 children under the age of five died merely in the month of August due to malnutrition, the majority of them in tribal areas.
