Publication: India's Undernourished Children : A Call for Reform and Action
Date
2006
ISSN
Published
2006
Author(s)
Abstract
The prevalence of child undernutrition
in India is among the highest in the world; nearly double
that of Sub-Saharan Africa, with dire consequences for
morbidity, mortality, productivity and economic growth.
Drawing on qualitative studies and quantitative evidence
from large household surveys, this book explores the
dimensions of child undernutrition in India and examines the
effectiveness of the Integrated Child Development Services
(ICDS) program, India's main early child development
intervention, in addressing it. Although levels of
undernutrition in India declined modestly during the 1990s,
the reductions lagged behind those achieved by other
countries with similar economic growth. Nutritional
inequalities across different states and socioeconomic and
demographic groups remain large. Although the ICDS program
appears to be well-designed and well-placed to address the
multi-dimensional causes of malnutrition in India, several
problems exist that prevent it from reaching its potential.
The book concludes with a discussion of a number of concrete
actions that can be taken to bridge the gap between the
policy intentions of ICDS and its actual implementation.
Citation
“Gragnolati, Michele; Bredenkamp, Caryn; Shekar, Meera; Das Gupta, Monica; Lee, Yi-Kyoung. 2006. India's Undernourished Children : A Call for Reform and Action. Health Nutrition, and Population. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7241 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”