The Hindu : Karnataka / Mysore News : High rate of malnutrition causing concern

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 05, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

High rate of malnutrition causing concern

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, NOV. 4. The 36th annual meet of the Nutrition Society of India to be held in Mysore from Friday with a focus on bridging the nutritional gap through value addition is significant in view of the high rate of malnutrition prevalent in the country. While it may sound intriguing that a country which exports agricultural produce should suffer from malnutrition, it is an indicator of poor purchasing capacity of a large section of the people who are forced to starve even as the godowns of the Food Corporation of India are full.

Experts have pointed out that the rate of malnutrition is high among girls. This is particularly glaring even in prosperous districts such as Mandya where the sex ratio has dropped alarmingly. While the sex ratio for children aged up to 6 in Mandya was more than 950 girls per 1,000 boys during the 1991 Census, it dropped to 937 girls per 1,000 boys during the 2001 Census.

While the girl child is the worst affected because of the social bias against her, the state of the general population is no better.

The National Family Health Survey conducted in Karnataka revealed that the malnutrition rate among children who weighed less than 2,500 gm at birth was 22 per cent. Although the survey pertains to 1992-93, it gives a clear picture of the extent of the problem.

Similarly, the survey pointed out that 54 per cent of the children aged below four was underweight and 48 per cent had stunted growth.

The percentage of children suffering from severe malnutrition in the State was 23 as against nine in Kerala.

Similarly, a report by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) showed that Karnataka was among the most badly affected States in India where the prevalence of underweight children was above 60 per cent. Karnataka, Gujarat, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh showed extremely poor nutritional status.

It is in this backdrop that the two-day conference is important as experts and nutritional scientists will discuss issues that have a bearing on topics, including providing value addition to food so as to make nutritional food available at a low cost. Experts will submit recommendations to achieve the national nutrition goal and extend food security to the population with effective implementation of programmes such as Akshara Dasoha.

The conference is being jointly organised by the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) and the Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) — the two premier food science and research institutes of India — in association with the University of Mysore.

The CFTRI has developed over 270 products, processes and equipment designs and close to 160 technologies for commercial exploitation by entrepreneurs, all of which have industrial value, social importance and national relevance..

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