Help us eradicate child malnutrition in the tribal areas of Jawahar Taluka, Palghar District.

Palghar District is just 107 km from Mumbai, which is Maharashtra’s capital city and economic powerhouse. It is rather surprising that despite this proximity, over 600 children have died due to malnutrition last year; and this number keeps rising. The talukas of Jawahar and Mokhada in Palghar district are the worst affected by almost 900 malnourished children. In 2016, an RTI document revealed that 17,000 women and children have died due to malnutrition in the tribal districts across Maharashtra.

In India, infant mortality and malnutrition among young children below the age of five is due to greater susceptibility to infections. This correlation is most visible in rural communities and BPL families. Scientific evidence has clearly proven that the chronic effects of malnutrition can be reversed by providing nutritional supplements in the first few years of a child’s life. Therefore, to stem the transmission of inter generational malnutrition, children who are at risk must be attended to with urgency and on a pan-India level, as a majority of Indians still live in rural and semi-urban areas.

Children who suffer from malnutrition are always underweight and seldom reach their optimum height; in addition, it also affects their brains, resulting in lower IQs, delayed enrollment, higher absenteeism and more class repetition.

Below are some startling figures from Jawahar Taluka:

1. For every ten children aged three or less, born to illiterate mothers, five children are stunted, which is a sign of chronic malnutrition.

2. For every ten children aged three or less, born to illiterate mothers, five children are underweight and emaciated, which is also sign of acute and chronic malnutrition. Emaciated children are at highest risk of dying from malnutrition or from diseases like diarrhoea or respiratory infections.

3. For every ten children aged 6-9 months, born to illiterate mothers, only to receive solid or semi-solid foods in addition to breast-milk as recommended.  This jeopardizes their chances of survival and irreversibly impairs their future growth and development.

4. For every ten children aged one to three years, born to illiterate mothers, only three children received Vitamin A supplementation in the last six months prior to the survey.

5. For every ten illiterate women between the ages of 15 and 49, four are malnourished.

6. For every ten pregnant illiterate women, six are anaemic but only to take Iron and Folic Acid supplements for 90 days as recommended.