AP Features, February 9th, 2007
Nearly half of India's children are malnourished, putting the country in the same league with some of the world's poorest countries despite its dramatic economic achievements, a government survey showed Friday.
The survey showed India has made gains in recent years, with fewer infants dying and more pregnant women seeing doctors. Yet the country is still struggling to match its economic leaps with equal improvements in the health of its more than 1 billion people.
Preliminary figures from the National Family Health Survey highlighted persistent gaps between the health of rural and urban India, and between health awareness among men and women, who in many parts of the country remain second class citizens.
The most glaring problem in the 2005-2006 survey was the health of children.
With about 46 percent of children malnourished _ a negligible improvement over the last survey, conducted in 1998-99 _ India is in the same league with nations like Burkina Faso and Cambodia. In China, Asia's other rising economic power and the country India often compares itself with, only 8 percent of children are underweight.
The improved infant mortality rate _ down to 57 per 1,000 births from 68 in the previous survey _ remains dramatically lower in Western nations. In the United States, for instance, it is seven per 1,000 births.
Health in the countryside lagged far behind cities in every category where a comparison was offered. The rural infant mortality rate, for example, was 62 per 1,000 births, compared to 42 in urban areas.
Such statistics show India _ whose economy grew 8.4 percent in the last fiscal year _ "should be worried," said Werner Schultink of UNICEF. "It's going to be difficult for India if wants to use its human resources to develop the nation but does not make improvements."
The survey _ the third conducted since 1992-1993 _ covered about 200,000 people between the ages of 15 and 54, more than half women. The people were interviewed face-to-face across India between December 2005 and August 2006. It had no significant margin-of-error.
Only selected figures were released Friday and the full report was expected soon.
Nearly 51 percent of women made at least three visits to the doctor when they were pregnant, up from 44 percent in 1998-99. Some 41 percent had children in a hospital or clinic, up from about 34 percent in the last survey.
The data also showed increased awareness about HIV. Some 57 percent of women who are or have been married knew about the virus _ a big jump from the 40 percent reported in 1998-99. But the figure is still likely to be criticized as far too low for a country with 5.7 million people infected with the disease, the most in the world.
A much higher percentage of men in the same group _ 80 percent _ had heard about the disease. No comparison with the data from previous surveys was offered for men.
The difference may have something to do with the fact that men are much more likely to be exposed to the country's media _ the survey found 80 percent of men had access to media, while only 65 percent of women did.
