Nutrition/Malnutrition
My reason for researching malnutrition is to understand its impact on child development. I have a student in my classroom who was adopted from another country. According to his adoptive parents, he was malnourished by six weeks of age. He was fifteen months old until they could adopt him. He has been diagnosed with ADHD and his fine motor skills are very poor.
Malnutrition in India
Malnutrition causes a third of all child deaths (Anonymous, 2008). It also accounts for 11 percent of the world’s diseases (Anonymouns, 2008). In India, nearly half of all the children are undernourished and that accounts for one-third of the world’s 150 million malnourished children under the age of five (Anonymous, 2010). The effects of malnutrition are far-reaching and long lasting. Dhar Aarti article on India’s malnutrition states “The critical period, when malnutrition can have the most irrevocable impact, is during the first 33 months from conception to a child's second birthday. After this period, it is much harder to reverse the effects of chronic malnutrition and the effects are life-long or life-threatening (2010).
What is India doing about malnutrition?
India has established Anganwadi centers that provide pregnant mothers and children up to age 6 with free child care and daily meals (Anonymous, 2010). In theory it sounds great but it isn’t working because there are not enough centers and those in existence are overburdened.
India has established a Public Distribution System to provide subsided food and midday meals to school children but the program is poorly ran and corrupt (Anonymous, 2010).
India committed to halving hunger and malnutrition by 2015 as part of the Millennium Development Goal. (Aarti, 2010) “…India has achieved just 0.9 per cent progress, which is nowhere near achieving the target by 2015...” (Aarti, 2010).
Impact on my future work
I’m not sure how studying malnutrition will impact my future work. It’s something I keep in mind whenever I’m working with children and their families. Our school does whatever we can to help families in need. It’s nice to know that there are global organizations that helping to fight child hunger. Getting involved in one of these organizations could be a possibility in the future.
Links:
References
Aarti Dhar. (2010, October 14). India tops Commonwealth countries in
underweight children: report. The Hindu,. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 2161603051).
Anonymous, . Putting the smallest first; Child malnutrition in
India. (2010, September). The Economist, 396(8701), 35-36. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2147207461).
Anonymous, .Nutrition tied to more than one-third of child deaths. (2008, March).
The Nation's Health, 38(2), 12. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from ProQuest Central. (Document ID: 1445994101).
Maggie
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this wonderful information about malnutrition with us. I alao believe hunger and malnutrition are two important factors that can impact a child's development pernantly if it doesn't get the proper intervention as soon as possible.It is sad to see how in so many countries hunger and malnutrition is present, while we waste so much food in or country. If the government of many of these countries would be less corrupt and would really work on providing the necesarry programs and resources for their families hunger and malnutrition would exits or at least decrease
Maggie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for providing me with some great information about nutrition/malnutrition in India. I believe that women who have the proper nutrition when they are pregnant have a greater chance of having a healthy baby. It makes me sad to know that children are hungry and malnourished in all countries of the world. It is great to know that India has centers that provide mothers and children with free child care and meals.
Maggie you gave some great information about malnutrition in India and what their future plans to help in the fight of it. When we read about other countries and how the children are suffering from malnutrition and then working with children who are in our programs who are lacking in good nutrition, it motivates us to do more to make a difference in the children's lives here and abroad.
ReplyDeleteThanks Maggie for the useful information about malnutrition. You have great facts about how malnutrition effect India.
ReplyDeleteTogether we can make a change because when I read about India and other countries it really hurts my heart to see and here what they go through.
Maggie,
ReplyDeleteWe both chose the same country India for this assignment. I found an article about a mother and her children being deprived proper nutrition and medical care. Is so sad that some young children, have to start their lives off with such problems. Another thing that is important is that as early childhood professional, we must make ourselves aware of this type of situations. Great article, thanks for sharing!