A study on the nutritional status of children (zero to six years) in 12 districts of the State by People’s Voice for Child Rights (PVCR), in collaboration with Child Rights and You (CRY), has thrown up rather disturbing trends. Of the 5,568 children covered, 40 per cent i.e., 2,250 children were undernourished.
The study, which covered 240 Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) centres in 12 districts between December 2012 and January 2013 says that out of the 40 per cent undernourished children, 18 per cent are severely underweight while 23 per cent are moderately underweight.
The PVCR and CRY officials maintained that the nutritional status report indicates “failure in providing strong measures to combat child malnutrition because it re-emphasises the same findings of NFHS 3 study of 2005, wherein 42.4 per cent of children were underweight. In NFHS study, the percentage of severely underweight children was 9.9 per cent, but now according to our study it is has doubled to 18 per cent”.
“The report reiterates that there is a lot more work to be done to improve the nutritional status of our children. Radical changes and better regulation to improve ICDS is need of the hour,” said Advisor, Supreme Court appointed National Commission on Right to Food case, Dr. Rama S Melkote, who released the report.
The PVCR and CRY conducted the study in 12 districts including Chittoor, Kadapa, Anantapur, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Adilabad, Khammam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari. “We have also covered children from primitive tribes, nomadic tribes, coastal community, urban and rural poor,” said M. Madhu, the researcher.
Apart from nutritional status, the study also concentrated on the present status of ICDS centres, whether they are own or rental ones, storage facilities, water for general use and drinking etc. “ Seventy per cent of ICDS centres are in rental buildings and there are no facilities for specially-abled children. Over 66 per cent of the centres do not have electricity and 74 per cent do not have toilets for children. Close to 70 per cent of the ICDS centres do not have drinking water facilities,” the study said.
Among the many recommendations, PVCR and CRY officials have maintained that right to food and free from malnutrition should be given constitutional guarantee for children below six years.
