The Hindu : New Delhi News : MCD students present a grim health scenario

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 11, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

MCD students present a grim health scenario

By Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI, AUG. 10. While strategies are being worked out around the globe to cope with the "fatal bulge'', Delhi seems to present a striking contrast. Fifty-two per cent of students enrolled in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools are reportedly undernourished, while 66.4 per cent have registered an overall prevalence of anaemia.

A report published in the Indian Journal of Paediatrics by a team from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) says the study was an eye opener and it pointed out that the children in Delhi were suffering from under-nutrition of one form or the other possibly due to inadequate diet and chronic infections.

The study covered children in the 6 to 11 age group in all the 1,803 primary schools of Delhi. This group was chosen because the enrolment of children in the age group of 6 to 11 years was greater than 90 per cent, meaning that the population of children covered was very high.

According to Umesh Kapil of the Department of Human Nutrition, who was part of the survey, "the indices of nutritional status i.e. weight for age, height for age and weight for height were looked into for assessing the prevalence of under-nutrition among children.''

"Of the 48.7 per cent boys and 51.2 per cent girls included in the study, it was detected that the percentage of underweight, stunted and wasted children was 52.5, 45.1 and 11.1 per cent respectively. The prevalence of underweight and stunting was significantly higher in boys compared to girls. The condition in Delhi is not very encouraging when we compare the same with Mumbai and Punjab where studies conducted found that 40.2 per cent and 20.5 per cent of the children between 5 and 14 were underweight.''

But it isn't under-nourishment alone that is worrying the doctors. Also a cause for concern is anaemia and the iodine deficiencies. The over all prevalence of anaemia among girls compared to boys was higher and the present study revealed that it is a severe public health problem among primary school children.

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