http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/ColumnsOthers/Lessons-from-Eritrea/Article1-933209.aspx
A good case in point is an East African nation — Eritrea. It was lauded by
the World Health Organisation for reducing the Infant Mortality Rate from
92 in 1992 to 39 in 2009. Likewise, the child mortality rate (under-five
deaths) was drastically reduced from 150 to 58 in the same period. The
government identified malaria and improper sanitation as the main causes of
these deaths and took measures to control the problem. It also took
initiatives to provide primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare
facilities to mothers and infants.
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Lessons from Eritrea
*Anurodh Lalit Jain<
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Search/search.aspx?q=Anurodh%20Lalit%20Jain>
**
September 20, 2012*
Amid the Coalgate controversy, the nation seems to have forgotten about the
National Nutrition Week (September 1-7). But the truth is nutrition will
continue to remain one of the vital issues for the government in the years
to come. According to a World Bank report, one in four of the
world’s malnourished children is in India, even more than in sub-Saharan
Africa. Furthermore, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) identified
20% of our under-five children as acutely malnourished and 48% as
chronically malnourished. Recently, India’s nutritional awareness efforts
were further pushed back when Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi
attributed malnutrition in his state to vegetarianism and beauty
consciousness of middle-class women.
However, the NFHS-3 survey data shows that vegetarianism does not
necessarily lead to malnutrition. According to the survey of vegetarian
females between 15 and 49 years, Haryana and Punjab lead the nation with
88% and 75% of the population, respectively, as compared to 70% in Gujarat.
Still, Haryana and Punjab’s adult female malnutrition rate is lower than
that of Gujarat’s.
Moreover, the occurrences of malnutrition cases have mostly been observed
in the underprivileged sections of scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe
(ST) communities. The 2011 India Human Development Report states: “Gujarat,
one of the industrial and advanced states, has performed very badly with
respect to adult women’s malnutrition among the socially marginalised
groups.” The percentage of ST women with Body Mass Index (BMI) less than
18.5 was 61% in Gujarat as compared to 46.6% nationally (If the BMI of a
woman is less than 18.5, she is classified as underweight).
To tackle the issue of malnutrition, the government must accept that it is
strongly related to a deficit in level of education, sanitation and health
and hygiene, in addition to the incomplete nutritional needs of mothers and
children. We need to understand the root cause of the problem and only then
we can solve it.
A good case in point is an East African nation — Eritrea. It was lauded by
the World Health Organisation for reducing the Infant Mortality Rate from
92 in 1992 to 39 in 2009. Likewise, the child mortality rate (under-five
deaths) was drastically reduced from 150 to 58 in the same period. The
government identified malaria and improper sanitation as the main causes of
these deaths and took measures to control the problem. It also took
initiatives to provide primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare
facilities to mothers and infants.
The Gujarat government should convince corporates to take up public-private
partnership (PPP) projects on malnutrition. Such projects can widen the
service delivery mechanisms as it will allow better resource mobilisation
at a micro level.
Anurodh Lalit Jain is a social healthcare analyst
The views expressed by the author are personal
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Received on Thu Sep 20 2012 - 22:16:53 EDT
