Hunger Pangs

The worst-kept secret of Vibrant Gujarat is its poor and hungry underbelly,which reveals itself in the undernutrition figures that routinely dominate national health surveys.

A paediatrician at Ahmedabads Civil Hospital,one of the oldest government hospitals in the city,says,I see 300-400 children in my OPD everyday and 50 per cent of them are malnourished. All of them are poor. As for the CMs statement that malnourishment is the result of a diet fad,there is no empirical data to support or refute it, she says on the condition of anonymity.

According to the second National Family Health Survey,38.1 per cent of urban children in Gujarat are underweight and 38.5 per cent are stunted. According to NFHS-3,69.7 per cent of Gujarati children under five are anaemic,higher than similar figures for states like Orissa and Assam. Against an all-India average of 48 per cent,51.7 per cent of them are stunted. In Gujarat,16.9 per cent men against the national average of 13.8 per cent have a body mass index of less than 17 the minimum acceptable is 18.5. For women,the figure stands at 18.6 per cent against a national average of 15.8 per cent.

An ongoing study among schoolchildren by the Faculty of Food and Nutrition at M S University,Baroda,has shown a 94 per cent incidence of anaemia in government schools against a mere 37 per cent in private schools. Dr Vanisha Nambiar,an assistant professor in the department,says her data from Chhota Udepur,a far-flung taluka which was recently declared the states 28th district,shows high incidence of Vitamin A deficiency,anaemia and stunting and wasting poor weight-for-height among children. Nambiar will present the data at an international conference on nutrition in Mumbai next year.

These are very poor people and there is obviously an issue of affordability when it comes to vegetables. Our studies on the mid-day meal scheme show there are problems of pilferage,especially at the middle-level. There is also little inter-sectoral networking in government schemes,so the end result is not what it should be, she says.

But malnutrition isnt a problem of the poor alone,says a recent study by Niti Mehta,acting director of the Ahmedabad-based Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research SPIESR. Her study,titled Food Security Aspects and Diversification of Demand in the context of Gujarat,is based on data from the 2005-6 National Sample Survey Organisation. More than one-third of the children 36 per cent under five in the wealthiest households in Gujarat are stunted,16 per cent are wasted and 30 per cent are underweight, the study says.

The study also shows how in rural Gujarat,wheat consumption has consistently risen,particularly after 2004-5,at the cost of traditional coarse grains. Bajra,jowar and maize are important sources of micro-nutrients. From a combined share of 44 per cent in rural and 14.2 per cent in urban Gujarat in 1993-94,their consumption share has declined to 35 per cent and 9.3 per cent respectively in 2009-10, the study says.

Story continues below this ad

Internal medicine specialist Dr Falguni Iyer,who has worked at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and later in Mehsana district,talks about the abysmally low haemoglobin levels among patients,especially women. At the Civil Hospital,5 per cent of women were severely anemic with a haemoglobin count of 3-4. All of them had low counts because they did not have enough to eat,especially vegetables and milk, she says.