J Korean Med Sci.  2015 Nov;30(Suppl 2):S131-S133. 10.3346/jkms.2015.30.S2.S131.

Limits to Economic Growth: Why Direct Investments Are Needed to Address Child Undernutrition in India

• Subramanian SV
• Subramanyam MA

• KMID: 2351149
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2015.30.S2.S131

Abstract

About two of every five undernourished young children of the world live in India. These high levels of child undernutrition have persisted in India for several years, even in its relatively well-developed states. Moreover, this pattern was observed during a period of rapid economic growth. Evidence from India and other developing countries suggests that economic growth has little to no impact on reducing child undernutrition. We argue that a growth-mediated strategy is unlikely to be effective in tackling child undernutrition unless growth is pro-poor and leads to investment in programs addressing the root causes of this persistent challenge.

Keyword

Child Undernutrition; Economic Growth; Growth-mediated Strategy; Supported Strategy; India

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Child
Child Nutrition Disorders/*economics/epidemiology/*prevention & control
Child, Preschool
Cost of Illness
Developing Countries/economics
*Economic Development
Female
Humans
India/epidemiology
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Investments/*economics
Male
Malnutrition/*economics/epidemiology/*prevention & control
Nutritional Status
Prevalence

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Prevalence of childhood underweight and stunting in Kerala for 1992-1993 (<48 months), 1998-1999 (<36 months), and 2005-2006 (<36 months) (from NFHS-1, -2, and -3 respectively).

• 

  Fig. 2 Association of state-level economic growth (change in per capita net state domestic product) and change in state-level prevalence of childhood (<36 months) underweight in India for children from the poorest and richest quintile of household wealth as well as all children, during the 1992 to 2005 period. Each point in the scatter plot denotes change in prevalence of underweight for a state in India. The data are stratified by household wealth of the population, with red squares representing children from the poorest households (lowest quintile of wealth), blue rhomboids children from the richest households (top wealth quintile) and the green triangles children from all households. The Y axis depicts percentage change in prevalence per year. It was calculated using the formula: [(prevalence weighted for sampling design in 2005-2006 minus weighted prevalence in 1992) divided by weighted prevalence in 1992] multiplied by 100. The X axis depicts percentage change in per capita net state domestic product (PCNSDP), calculated using the formula: [(PCNSDP in 2005 minus PCNSDP in 1993) divided by PCNSDP in 1993] multiplied by 100. Data for underweight are from NFHS-1, -2, and -3 (http://www.rchiips.org/nfhs/index.shtml). Data for PCNSDP are from the 2008 Handbook of statistics on Indian economy published by the Reserve Bank of India (http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/AnnualPublications.aspx?head=Handbook%20of%20Statistics%20on%20Indian%20Economy). P values for the correlations of percent change in PCNSDP and percent change in weighted prevalence are P=0.6 (poorest), 0.2 (richest), and 0.9 (overall).

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