Experts fault anaemia among women in child-bearing age and poor sanitation
Chennai: Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is high among under-5 children at 8% in Tamil Nadu, according to the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) data released in 2017.
Defined by a very low weight-for-height and by visible severe wasting, or by the presence of nutritional oedema (swelling of feet, for example), according to the World Health Organization (WHO), SAM incidence among small children in the State is higher than the national average.
Job Zachariah, chief of UNICEF for Tamil Nadu and Kerala, told The Hindu that there was need for a detailed State-level study of this phenomenon as the NFHS data was inadequate, but the ICDS system was currently not equipped to carry out weight-for-height measurements of under-5 children.
“Anganwadi workers only identify underweight children, so nobody knows how many SAM children there are. That is why measuring height is crucial as SAM children have a higher probability of dying, over 10 times when compared to normal children,” he said. Since measuring the height for two or three year-olds could get tricky, this could be done using a mid-upper-arm-circumference (MUAC) tape, he said, adding that if the measurement is below 11.5 cm, it confirms that the child is severely malnourished.
R. Kannan, the Director of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in the State, said the prevalence of severe malnutrition among children was the result of a vicious cycle starting from unhealthy mothers. In Tamil Nadu, half of the women in child-bearing age are found to be anaemic, NFHS-4 data shows.
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