68.2% Children Under 5 Died of Malnutrition in 2017: ICMR Study

Low birth weight was found to be the leading risk factor behind malnutrition in children.

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According to a recent study, nearly 68.2 percent of all deaths in children below five years can be attributed to malnutrition, making the diet-related condition the biggest risk factor for deaths in the age group across all Indian states in the year 2017.

Titled The Burden of Child and maternal malnutrition and trends in its indicators in the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 1990-2017, the study was jointly conducted by the ICMR, Department of Health Research, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and also sheds light on the rising obesity among children.

The Malady of Malnutrition

According to the study, malnutrition not only accounted for 706,00 out of 1.04 million deaths in children below five years, but was also the leading factor for loss of health across all age groups, leading to a 17.3 percent of the Total Disability-Adjusted life years (DALY).

What is DALY?

DALY helps in calculating the number of healthy years lost due early death arising out of a condition, or the number of healthy years lost on account of living with a disability.  For example, if a person dies of malnutrition-related complications at the age of 50 in a society where the average life-expectancy is 70, their DALY would stand at 20 years (70-50). However, if they suffered a disability and could not lead a normal healthy life arising out of malnutrition just before their death, that period, too, would be calculated.

This means that 17.3 percent of all healthy years lost due to early death arising out of a disability/condition or due to a period of disability prior to death across all age groups were linked to malnutrition.

Low Birth-rate the Leading Cause

But malnutrition is an umbrella term and has several indicators under it. In 2017, the highest proportion of healthy years lost due to malnutrition – in the form of premature deaths and duration of malnutrition-induced disability – in children below five years were caused by low birth-weight and short gestation period, followed by child growth failure.

The study points out that in 2017, at least 21.4 percent of all children born within the country’s border were underweight, while indicating how states with a low socio-demographic index (SDI) are more likely to bear a greater burden of the malnutrition-linked conditions.

Uttar Pradesh, which ranks low in terms of SDI, accounted for a low birth-weight of 24.2 percent, followed by Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan at 23.4, 23.2 and 22.6 percent respectively.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

High SDI states like Mizoram, Sikkim and Kerala witnessed the lowest percentage of low birth-weight, at 8.7, 12.2 and 14.4 percent respectively. However, other high SDI states like Delhi, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh remained an exception, presenting a low birth-weight of 23.1, 22.6 and 21.5 percent respectively.

India’s Obese Children

While low birth-weight remains one of the primary risk factors leading to malnutrition, the study also sheds light on the rising incidence of obesity in children. According to the study, the prevalence of excess weight among children stands at 12 percent, with the highest concentration being recorded in more developing states.

Telangana, a state which ranks middle in terms of SDI, accounted for 23.2 percent of the country’s overweight children. The southern state is followed by Delhi, Goa (both high SDI states) which account for 23.1 and 22.3 percent of India’s overweight children.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

Interestingly, the burden of obesity among children in Middle and High SDI states is particularly on the higher side, ranging from 12-23 percent. Although states with low SDI present low percentages of overweight children (6-10 percent), their percentage has steadily been on the rise.