Acute malnutrition kills 125 children in Madhya Pradesh

Indian government and top officials that weave of only dream to make India a developed country by 2020 while sitting in their air-conditioned rooms and remain untouched to the ground reality, have denied the reports of Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) that claim the death of 125 children across Madhya Pradesh (MP) due to malnutrition. The administration blames it to other severe disease and not malnutrition.

Several NGOs including ‘MP Right to Food Campaign’, ‘Spandan Sewa Samiti’ and ‘Saharia Mukti Morcha’ has claimed in separate reports that as many as 125 tribal children from four districts of MP have died since last April owing to undernourishment and that malnutrition have led them to death.

The MP Right to Food Campaign has filed a petition in Supreme Court asking justice for those poor families that have not been able to arrange proper livelihood and reached at the edge of starvation, while administration and government is playing a mute spectator on this crisis.

According to MP Right to Food Campaign’s report, over 64 Bhil children have died only in Satna since April, while Spandan Sewa Samiti has reported the deaths of 39 children of Korku tribe in the past 45 days in Khandwa district of MP. The Saharia Mukti Morcha, on the other hand has reported the death of 16 toddlers in Shivpuri and five in Sheopur due to Malaria, because malnutrition had destroyed their immunity, as it claimed.

But, the local authority and minister of state have denied this report quoting the reason ‘absolutely baseless’ and blamed several epidemic and acute diseases like viral fever, pneumonia, diarrhea and liver-related disease behind their deaths.

But, a UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund, an international organisation that works for children’s interest) consultant to Ministry of Women and Child Welfare has cited based on a survey of those districts that malnutrition could be one of the causes behind the deaths.

On the other hand, the stats of state health department had reported the death rate of 82 children per day in MP in 2006-07, marginally slipped to 80 per day in 2007-08 due to several reasons include post delivery infant death and death succumbing to diseases.