As Indian Growth Soars, Child Hunger Persists

March 13, 2009
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
NEW DELHI — Small, sick, listless children have long been India’s scourge — “a national shame,” in the words of its prime minister, Manmohan Singh. But even after a decade of galloping economic growth, child malnutrition rates are worse here than in many sub-Saharan African countries, and they stand out as a paradox in a proud democracy.
China, that other Asian economic powerhouse, sharply reduced child malnutrition, and now just 7 % of its children under 5 are underweight, a critical gauge of malnutrition. In India, by
contrast, despite robust growth and good government intentions, the comparable number is 42.5 %. Malnutrition makes children more prone to illness and stunts physical and intellectual
growth for a lifetime. There are no simple explanations. Economists and public health experts say stubborn malnutrition rates point to a central failing in this democracy of the poor. Amartya Sen, the Nobel prize-winning economist, lamented that hunger was not enough of a political priority here. India’s public expenditure on health remains low, and in some places, financing for child nutrition programs remains unspent.
A World Food Program report last month noted that India remained home to more than a fourth of the world’s hungry, 230 million people in all. It also found anemia to be on the rise among rural women of childbearing age in eight states across India. Indian women are often the last to eat in their homes and often unlikely to eat well or rest during pregnancy. Ms. Menon’s institute,
based in Washington, recently ranked India below two dozen sub-Saharan countries on its global Hunger Index.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/world/asia/13malnutrition.html