SC ST children are the worst hit: Malnutrition survey in Karnataka
Posted on November 24, 2011
This is a study I was involved in
Malnourishment: children of SC, ST families worst-hit
A group of NGOs conducted a survey in 11 districts
In the wake of the Department of Women and Child Development
acknowledging that there are 72,000 severely malnourished children in
the State, a group of NGOs conducted a survey of malnourished children
in 11 districts.
According to the study, the worst-affected are children from Scheduled
Caste and Scheduled Tribe families where parents worked on daily
wages.
The study, which aimed at studying the conditions of the children,
their access to health, childcare and anganwadi services, found that
48 of the 311 children from 334 families suffered from cerebral palsy
and mental retardation, said E. Premdas, convener of Janarogya
Andolana Karnataka (JAAK), one of the NGOs that conducted the study.
'Only 14 days of work'
"Nearly 84 per cent of the families surveyed have not received work
under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and 43
per cent have not received rations through the public distribution
system. The 14 families who got work got only 14 days of work on an
average under the MNREGA," Mr. Premdas said.
Forty-two per cent of the total number of children and 80 per cent of
children with disabilities did not have access to anganwadis, he
added.
Discrimination
"Another important aspect that the study found was that children with
mental illnesses are not admitted to anganwadis and Dalit children are
discriminated against in anganwadis," he said.
While 22 per cent of the severely malnourished children did not
receive food at all under Integrated Child Development Services
scheme, the worst-affected were children with the "double burden" of
disability and severe malnourishment.
Bad food
It was also found that 47 per cent of the children were not eating the
packet food given in anganwadis as it was not good. Most of the
mothers, who were asked to rate the food on a scale of 0 to 100, rated
the food at 30, he explained.
Over 50 investigators from Right to Food Campaign – Karnataka (RFC)
and Samajika Parivarthana Janadolana apart from JAAK were involved in
the study.
'48 of the 311 children surveyed suffered from cerebral palsy,
mental retardation'
'Nearly 84 per cent of the 334 families surveyed have not received
work under MNREGA'
Links
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Related articles
Child Malnutrition in Karnataka- A Report (kafila.org)
1.33 lakh Anganwadi centres not functional: Tirath (news.bioscholar.com)
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