malnutrition deaths

i wrote on the musahars and the rate of malnutrition in their community some time ago here.

here are some scary news right from round the corner-in mumbai.
one child has died 'officially'.
this is the report on the entire city.
this comment is just incendiary.

State health officials also confirmed two additional cases of malnutrition,
terming the phenomenon as “common”.

here are more news articles on the same.
july 22, july 23, july 24 from TOI.

the ICDS concept was introduced in 1975 'to provide an integrated package of services in a convergent manner for the holistic development of the child.'
in the 32 years of their operations, they have barely gone beyond the surface. the world bank has a detailed report on nutrition status, current ICDS set up and how to improve the ICDS scheme. some startling highlights are:
1. The prevalence of underweight among children in India is amongst the highest in the world, and nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa. In 1998/99, 47 percent of children under three were underweight or severely underweight, and a further 26 percent were mildly underweight such that, in total, underweight afflicted almost three-quarters of Indian children.
2. The percentage of administrative blocks covered by ICDS has reached almost 90%.
However, the percentage of children who actually take services provided by the program is , by December 2002, only 25% of children aged between 6 months and 6 years, benefited from the supplementary nutrition component of ICDS.

there is still some hope. local innovations and some inspired policies/administrators are helping certain areas to take care of their children. our children.