35% children under the age of five in Karnataka are stunted: NFHS

Stunting or low height for age is a sign of chronic undernutrition. Despite schemes like midday meal and Ksheera Bhagya by the state government, 35% of children under the age of five in the state are stunted, just one per cent less than the national average of 36%, as per the National Family Health Survey - 5 (NFHS) released on May 3. Kids born to thin mothers are stunted and the prevalence of stunting is higher in rural areas than urban areas.

Dr S Saldanha, gynaecologist, and trainer in child protection, Acura Hospital, told DH, "It is a reflection of two primary factors: long term Malnutrition and subsistence-level food intake for generations in both rural and urban lower socio-economic groups, i.e., the parents and siblings of these children would be undernourished too."

"Secondly, during the pandemic in the last two years, the government actions and the economic downturn has increased the price of nutritious foods like pulses, oils, plant and non-vegetarian foods, thereby further accentuating the chronic malnutrition," she added

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Karnataka Janarogya Chaluvali co-convener Akhila Vasan told DH, "40-odd per cent of pregnant women are anaemic. Barely 11% of infants get adequate food. So is it not a surprise that stunting is so high. The quality of mid-day meals is very poor. There is no protein content at all."

"Why are organisations like ISKCON being given the contract for providing mid-day meals? They do not provide eggs and don't even add onions or garlic to the food. This is a Brahminical abomination. It is taking a toll on several generations of poor children whose futures are at stake," she added.

Stunting indicates that the damage due to poor nutrition is irreversible. "Stunting also impacts scholastic achievement. This means that more than one-third of children will not be able to cope with scholastic requirements which in turn means their futures are in jeopardy," Vasan said.

Public health activist Dr Sylvia Karpagam said, "Chronic undernutrition is a grave concern in Karnataka and is likely to have worsened with the pandemic and lockdown, with the loss of livelihood, displacement, shutting down of public transport access to basic health care such as immunisation and more importantly breakdown in social security schemes such as pensions, Integrated Child Development Scheme and mid-day meals etc."

As per the National Food Security Act, vulnerable groups such as children up to 14 years, adolescent girls and pregnant/postpartum women are legally entitled to food and this is not being met, she said.

"Even food has been reduced to cereal and millet with very poor diversity, and growing criminalisation of all animal source foods, other than milk and dairy. These can worsen even the existing indicators so we need to demand that decisions on food and nutrition should be based on evidence, science and data such as NFHS and Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey rather than religion or caste or ideology," Karpagam explained.