HYDERABAD: HOW effective have we been in the fight against poverty and access to basic nutrition? A new study conducted by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies over a period of 15 long years paints a grim picture. According to it, 32 per cent of children born in the year 2000 in Telangana continues to be stunted and malnourished right from their birth till they turn 15.
The study surveyed 1,050 children in Telangana born in 2000 and tracked their journey till the age of 15. It was found that a very small number of children managed to escape malnutrition by the time they turned 15. According to data, 37.3 per cent children in the State were found to be stunted in 2002. By 2015, that’s a good 13 years later, the figures improved only marginally to 32.1 per cent.
No surprises here, but it was also found that malnutrition was higher among people of scheduled castes. Nearly 43 per cent of children in this category continued to be stunted at the age of 15. In comparison, only 22 per cent children from other castes were stunted by the time they turned 15. Not just caste, class and economic factors have an important role, too.
For instance, though many respondents had seen a 7 per cent improvement in their economic abilities over the decade, access to nutritious food remained elusive. The access was also limited by other factors like education. For instance, it was found that stunting was more prevalent among children whose mothers had no schooling or lived in rural areas.
“Though it’s now globally acknowledged that the nutrition available in the first 1,000 days for children is the most crucial, we have seen that timely intervention can break the cycle and a child who was stunted in the first 1,000 days can lead a normal life,” says professor S Galab, director of CESS and principal investigator of the report.
The primary solution, researchers insist, is poverty reduction through social programmes. That, however, still remains a challenge. For, 11 per cent of the children surveyed were found to be living in ‘persistent poverty’ from 0-15 years.