Malnutrition killed 6,852 kids in 3 years in 16 Maharashtra districts
There were 15,253 cases of child marriage in 16 tribal districts of the state.
FollowDid you know that 6,852 children have lost their lives due to malnutrition in Maharashtra in the last three years? The shocking data was submitted to the Bombay High Court by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government recently.
The survey, undertaken by a 3-member committee, also found that of the 6,852 deaths, 601 deceased children were born to minor mothers. Conducted by Anganwadi Sevikas and ASHA sevikas, the survey offered more shocking figures.
According to the report, there are over 1.36 lakh malnourished children in the state. Mothers of over 14,000 children were minors.
Out of the 1.36 lakh children, the report states that over 1,10,674 children were moderately affected by malnutrition while 26,059 were severely affected by malnutrition.
According to the World Health Organisation, malnutrition refers to deficiencies or imbalances in the intake of nutrients. The condition include wasting (low weight for height), stunting (low height for age), underweight (low weight for age) and micronutrient deficiencies or lack of important vitamins.
The data is in line with the reports that emerged in October last year which stated that Maharashtra had the biggest share of children affected by malnutrition. According to the Women and Child Development Ministry, as of October 14, Maharashtra had 6,16,772 malnourished children. The difference in data provided by the Centre and the state government is on account of the fact that the latter included figures from 2019 to 2022 from 16 tribal districts while the Centre's figures talk about the overall state.
The state government report had been sought by the court so as to identify areas where child marriages are still prevalent. The report notes that there were 15,253 cases of child marriage in the 16 tribal districts.
The survey was supervised by Dr DG Chauhan, Assistant Director of State Health Department, Rajendra Bharud, IAS Commissioner of Tribal Research & Training Institute and GV Deore, Deputy Commissioner of Integrated Child Development Services.
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