By Niladry Sarkar

Kolkata, Jan 20, 22: Stunting among children aged five years and below has increased in seven districts of West Bengal, according to the latest National Family Health Survey, published in November 2022.

The numbers of wasted and underweight children have also increased in 10 and nine districts respectively. Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, has embarrassingly seen a rise in all the categories.

The study titled “Prevalence and change detection of child growth failure phenomena among under-5 children: A comparative scrutiny from NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 in West Bengal, India,” was authored by Tamal Basu Roy, Partha Das and Tanu Das, professors of Geography in Uttar Dinajpur’s Raiganj University, and by Ranjan Roy, a professor of Geography and Applied Geography in the University of North Bengal.

They found that the prevalence of stunting (low height for a child’s weight) increased in Kolkata by 5.4 percent, in Darjeeling (5.2 percent), in Maldah (2.7 percent), Nadia (2.8 percent), North 24 Parganas (8.6 percent), South 24 Parganas (9.4 percent) and Uttar Dinajpur (4.4 percent).

The number of underweight children increased in Kolkata by a whopping 13.3 percent, more than in any other district, in Dakshin Dinajpur by 2.1 percent, in Darjeeling (5.9 percent), Hooghly (4.7 percent), Jalpaiguri (0.8 percent), Nadia (5.8 percent), North 24 Parganas (5.3 percent), Paschim Medinipur (0.3 percent) and South 24 Parganas (4.4 per cent).

“Currently, in West Bengal, 34 percent of children below 5 years of age are suffering from stunting or acutely undernourished conditions,” the report says.

“Prevalence stunting status among Under 5 children in West Bengal has changed since 2015–2016. As per the state level NFHS report (2019–2020), the proportion of Under 5 children who are stunted increased slightly from 33 percent to 34 percent between the last two consecutive NFHS rounds across the state of West Bengal,” the study says, adding that prevalence of underweight and wasted children remained unchanged at 32 percent and 20 percent respectively.

“The data revealed that there were 13 high priority districts (Darjeeling, Kolkata, Maldha, Nadia, North 24 Pargana, South 24 Pargana, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Howrah, Hooghly, Jalpaiguri, Bardhaman, Paschim Medinipur) in West Bengal where at least one child growth failure measurement (stunting/wasting/underweight) has marginally or hardly increased in 2019–2020 from 2015 to 2016,” it added.

It requires no rocket science to anticipate the socioeconomic background of the under-5 children who may have suffered major growth hindrances at the very beginning of their lives. These numbers of acute malnourishment, derived from the period between 2015-16 and 2019-20, turn dangerous when one adds the Covid-induced lockdown in 2020 and the major humanitarian crisis that has followed thereafter in the last 20 months or so.

Malnourishment in India has always been caused majorly by poverty, inequality and poor health of parents. Massive unemployment, inflation and economic crisis during the pandemic time, one can imagine, may have only forced the children to bear more repercussions.

“As shown in various previous studies low or very less parental educational attainment, poor household living condition, parental un-employment situation, less attention on maternal antenatal & postnatal care, child marriage, mother’s under-nutrition condition, poor maternal and child’s dietary diversity, poor immunization coverage among children are strongly and positively associated with child growth failure incidents,” said the report by professors Tamal Basu Roy, Partha Das, Tanu Das and Ranjan Roy.

However, one thing that could have saved these children from further undernourishment was the Mid Day Meal in Schools (MDMS) scheme.

A school-meal program in government schools, MDMS provides students in primary and upper-primary levels with cooked lunch to enhance their nutritional standards. The scheme was initiated to increase the educational attainment of children, reduce dropout rates and improve their overall growth.

The children who were below the age of five between 2015-2016 and 2019-2020 have ostensibly grown up now and are expected to be beneficiaries of the MDSM scheme in West Bengal as the state has the best primary education system in India among large states with the highest enrollment rate of 82.7 per cent among boys and 73.3 per cent among girls. But a mismanaged MDMS system is only exacerbating the nutritional crisis among the state’s children.

As per the Union Ministry of Education, a primary student (class 1-5) is entitled to get 100 grams of food grains, 20 grams of pulses, 50 grams of vegetables, 5 grams of oil & fat and salt & condiments as needed every day. An upper primary student (class 6-8) should receive 150 grams of food grains, 30 grams of pulses, 75 grams of vegetables, 7.5 grams of oil & fat and salt & condiments as needed per day.

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