Stunting high in 9 Karnataka districts

In an alarming find, nine districts in Karnataka have high levels of stunting among children aged below five years, according to an analysis by the Karnataka Knowledge Commission (KKC), the government’s policy think tank.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), stunting is the impaired growth and development children experience due to which their height-for-age is below standards. Stunting, along with wasting (low weight-for-height), underweight (low weight-for-age) and overweight are among indicators for malnutrition.

A preliminary analysis based on government data the KKC conducted found that more than 40% of children suffered stunting in nine districts —Bagalkot, Ballari, Bidar, Vijayapura, Davangere, Kalaburagi, Haveri, Koppal and Yadgir.

Overall, Karnataka has a stunting rate of 36.2% among children aged 0-59 months, according to the analysis.

This aspect on the stunting rate is nestled inside the Karnataka Action Plan on usage of big data in governance the KKC submitted to the government recently.

The KKC task group led by IIM Bengaluru’s Pulak Ghosh and former chief secretary SV Ranganath saw potential in deploying big data analytics to look at the problem of stunting among children.

Monthly progress reports (MPR) generated by the Women & Child Development department were superimposed with the National Family Health Survey-4 data to get “some preliminary insights” on stunting.

While the MPRs contain data on implementation of the Integrated Child Development Scheme and progress indicators, the NFHS-4 has details on stunting along with nutrition and socio-economic data.

The result was that while stunting is prevalent across the state, there were nine “worst performing districts”.

Women & Child Development director KA Dayananda said the government is aware of the seriousness of the problem.

“Stunting is highest in the Kalyana Karnataka region,” he said. “While I haven’t seen the KKC analysis, we are addressing the issue of stunting as it is being regularly monitored.”

Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar is reviewing the situation every month. “We also have nutrition rehabilitation centres in every district where remedial care is provided children suffering from stunting, wasting and other problems,” Dayananda said.

Apparently, 38% of children under the age of five years are stunted in India, according to the KKC report. The report also goes on to state that socio-economic factors such as households with clean fuel, use of improved sanitation facility, institutional births, literate women, women married before 18 years of age, women who are overweight or obese have an impact on stunting rate.