Abstract
This chapter discusses the role of malnutrition in children under the age of 5 growing up in India. Malnutrition is an ongoing public health challenge in children around the world and specifically within this subcontinent. Malnutrition includes both undernutrition and obesity. Some common forms of undernutrition include stunting, wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies. In an effort to help address undernutrition, several studies have examined various contributing factors. Some of the challenges in addressing undernutrition have been: regional differences in the burden and determinants, rapid urbanization, and the social and economic status of families/individuals. In addition, the consequences of ongoing undernutrition in Indian children are severe. Some of the risks associated with undernutrition include: mortality, morbidity, impaired growth and development, and reduced economic productivity. Thus, addressing the biological and social risk factors contributing to poor nutrition in children under age 5 in India is a critical imperative for achieving optimal health and development of its growing population.
Abbreviations
- AHS:
-
Annual health survey
- LBW:
-
Low birth weight
- MDG:
-
Millennium Development Goals
- NCD:
-
Noncommunicable disease
- NFHS:
-
National Family Health Survey
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
References
Ahmed T, Hossain M, Sanin KI (2012) Global burden of maternal and child undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. Ann Nutr Metab 61(suppl 1):8–17. https://doi.org/10.1159/000345165
Avula R et al (2017) Scaling-up interventions to improve infant and young child feeding in India: what will it take? Matern Child Nutr 13:e12414. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12414
Bhutta ZA, Salam RA (2012) Global nutrition epidemiology and trends. Ann Nutr Metab 61:19–27. https://doi.org/10.1159/000345167
Black MM, Dewey KG (2014) Promoting equity through integrated early child development and nutrition interventions. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1308(1):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.12351
Black RE et al (2008) Maternal and child undernutrition: global and regional exposures and health consequences. Lancet:243–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61690-0
Black RE et al (2013) Maternal and child undernutrition and overweight in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet 382(9890):427–451. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60937-X
Bose S (2011) The effect of women’s status and community on the gender differential in children’s nutrition in India. J Biosoc Sci 43(5):513–533. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002193201100006X
Caulfield LE et al (2004) Undernutrition as an underlying cause of child deaths associated with diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, and measles. Am J Clin Nutr 80(1):193–198. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15213048
Coffey D, Spears D, Vyas S (2017) Switching to sanitation: understanding latrine adoption in a representative panel of rural Indian households. Soc Sci Med 188:41–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.07.001
Ghosh-Jerath S et al (2013) Dimensions of nutritional vulnerability: assessment of women and children in Sahariya tribal community of Madhya Pradesh in India. Indian J Public Health 57(4):260–267. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-557X.123268
Grantham-McGregor S et al (2007) Developmental potential in the first 5 years for children in developing countries. Lancet 369:60–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60032-4
Hammer J, Spears D (2016) Village sanitation and child health: effects and external validity in a randomized field experiment in rural India. J Health Econ 48:135–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2016.03.003
IIPS, I. I. for P. S (1995) Chapter 10: Infant feeding and child nutrition. In: National Family Health Survey (MCH and family planning), India. IIPS, Bombay, pp 1992–1993
IIPS, I. I. for P. S (2000) Chapter 7: Nutrition and the prevalence of anaemia. In: National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2), 1998–99: India. IIPS, Mumbai
IIPS, I. I. for P. S (2007) Chapter 10: Nutrition and anaemia. In: National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), 2005–06: India, vol 1. IIPS, Mumbai
IIPS, I. I. for P. S (2017) National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015–16: India. IIPS, Mumbai
John CC, Black MM, Nelson CA (2017) Neurodevelopment: the impact of nutrition and inflammation during early to middle childhood in low-resource settings. Pediatrics 139 (Supplement 1):S59–S71. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-2828H
Kadiyala S et al (2016) Adapting agriculture platforms for nutrition: a case study of a participatory, video-based agricultural extension platform in India. PLoS One 11(10). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0164002
Kshatriya GK, Acharya SK (2016) Gender disparities in the prevalence of undernutrition and the higher risk among the young women of Indian tribes. PLoS One 11(7). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158308
Kumar A, Kumari D, Singh A (2015) Increasing socioeconomic inequality in childhood undernutrition in urban India: trends between 1992–93, 1998–99 and 2005–06. Health Policy Plan 30(8):1003–1016. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czu104
Liu L et al (2016) Global, regional, and national causes of under-5 mortality in 2000–15: an updated systematic analysis with implications for the Sustainable Development Goals. Lancet 388(10063):3027–3035. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31593-8
Mamidi RS et al (2016) Secular trends in heights and weights in boys and girls over 3 decades in rural India. Food Nutr Bull 37(3):425–438. https://doi.org/10.1177/0379572116647579
Menon P et al (2014) Early impact assessment of a large-scale initiative to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) in Bangladesh and Vietnam suggests improvements in IYCF practices and highlights importance of potential to benefit. The FASEB Journal. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 28(Suppl. 1): 119.6. Available at: http://www.fasebj.org/content/28/1_Supplement/119.6. Accessed 15 Jan 2018
Menon P et al (2017) Trends in nutrition outcomes, determinants, and interventions in India (2006–2016). POSHAN Report 10. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), New Delhi. Available at: http://www.ifpri.org/publication/trends-nutrition-outcomes-determinants-and-interventions-india-20062016. Accessed 19 Jan 2018
Kohli N et al (2017) What will it take to accelerate improvements in nutrition outcomes in Odisha? Learning from the past. Global Food Security 12:38–48
NITI Aayog (2017) Nourishing India – National Nutrition Strategy, Government of India. Government of India, New Delhi. Available at: http://niti.gov.in/content/nutrition-strategy-booklet. Accessed 15 Jan 2018
Panuganti P et al (2017) Influence of socioeconomic status on knowledge of obesity and diabetes among adolescents in Chennai, South India. Child Aust 4(8):61. https://doi.org/10.3390/children4080061
Patel A et al (2012) Determinants of inappropriate complementary feeding practices in young children in India: secondary analysis of National Family Health Survey 2005–2006. Matern Child Nutr 8(Suppl. 1):28–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8709.2011.00385.x
Pathak PK, Singh A (2011) Trends in malnutrition among children in India: growing inequalities across different economic groups. Soc Sci Med 73(4):576–585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.06.024
Prado EL, Dewey KG (2014) Nutrition and brain development in early life. Nutr Rev 72(4):267–284. https://doi.org/10.1111/nure.12102
Ramachandran P, Gopalan HS (2009) Undernutrition & risk of infections in preschool children. Indian J Med Res 130(5):579–583
Ramalingaswami V, Jonsson U and Rohde J (1996) Commentary: the Asian enigma, The Progress of Nations. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/pon96/nuenigma.htm. Accessed 15 Jan 2018
Sethuraman K, Lansdown R, Sullivan K (2006) Women’s empowerment and domestic violence: the role of sociocultural determinants in maternal and child undernutrition in tribal and rural communities in South India. Food Nutr Bull 27(2):128–143. https://doi.org/10.1177/156482650602700204
Singh A et al (2011) Infant and child mortality in India in the last two decades: a geospatial analysis. PLoS One 6(11). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0026856
Subramanian SV, MejÃa-Guevara I, Krishna A (2016) Rethinking policy perspectives on childhood stunting: time to formulate a structural and multifactorial strategy. Matern Child Nutr 12:219–236. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12254
Thow AM et al (2016) Toward food policy for the dual burden of malnutrition: an exploratory policy space analysis in India. Food Nutr Bull 37(3):261–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/0379572116653863
Tripathy JP et al (2016) Urban rural differences in diet, physical activity and obesity in India: are we witnessing the great Indian equalisation? Results from a cross-sectional STEPS survey. BMC Public Health 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3489-8
UNICEF (2015) UNICEF’s approach to scaling up nutrition for mothers and their children. New York. Available at: www.unicef.org
UNICEF (2016) Low birthweight – UNICEF DATA, UNICEF Data: Monitoring the Situation of Children and Women. Available at: https://data.unicef.org/topic/nutrition/low-birthweight/#. Accessed 30 Aug 2017
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Masoud, S., Menon, P., Bhutta, Z.A. (2018). Addressing Child Malnutrition in India. In: Preedy, V., Patel, V. (eds) Handbook of Famine, Starvation, and Nutrient Deprivation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40007-5_96-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40007-5_96-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-40007-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40007-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine