Accelerating Malnutrition Reduction in Orissa

Abstract

Orissa has performed better than the Indian average in terms of the rate of malnutrition reduction. This positive trend is supported by NFHS data, independent survey data and the State's own monitoring data. Despite this good news, absolute rates remain high with 40 per cent of children under five malnourished, rising to 54 per cent amongst the tribal population. Encouraging progress but recognition of a long way to go has triggered the Department of Women and Child Development to develop a new operational plan to accelerate the pace of malnutrition reduction. The Nutrition Plan is based on five principles, the key being targeting the most vulnerable in high burden districts. Review of national and international experience, analysis of the Department's data, plus primary data collection to fill information gaps, have created an evidence-based Plan which provides a challenging but realistic map for reaching an average annual malnutrition reduction of 3.5 per cent.

Infant mortality differentials among the tribal and non-tribal populations of Central and Eastern India

“…al. 1999;Gragnolati, Shekar, Das Gupta et al 2005;Nair, 2007;Virmani, 2007;Sharma, Sarangi, Kanungo et al, 2009;Gaiha, Kulkarni, Pandey et al, 2011;Sahu, Nair, Singh et al, 2015). Educated women are not only likely to earn more -thus, improving living conditions for the children at home -but also likely to assert more control over household resources and spend for their children (Caldwell, 1993).…”

“…The 2005-2006 NFHS data for Odisha showed a significant disparity in neonatal, infant, and under-five mortality rates by tribal, wealth, and education status (Sharma, Sarangi, Kanungo et al, 2009). Infant mortality rates (IMRs) are higher among the STs and they are mainly determined by poverty, low levels of education, and poor access/utilization of health services (World Bank, 2007).…”

Poverty and Social Exclusion in India

“…A World Bank study (2007) in Orissa, for instance, fi nds that, while child and infant mortality rates are higher among the STs, this is largely a function of poverty (lower levels of income and assets), low levels of education, and the poor access and utilization of health services. This has been confi rmed more recently by Sharma et al (2009), whose analysis of the NFHS data for Orissa shows signifi cant disparity in the neonatal, infant, and under-5 mortality rates in the state according to tribal status, wealth, and education groups. These authors fi nd that the lowest and the second-lowest wealth quintiles (based on an asset index) experience the highest under-5 mortality (119 and 97 deaths per 1,000, respectively, compared with, respectively, 66 and 28 deaths per 1,000 among children of families belonging to the top two quintiles).…”

Applying the ‘Candidacy’ Model to understand access to key nutrition, food & health services in LMIC contexts: a qualitative study in Odisha, India

“…The NFSA is required to deliver services to a widely diverse population, with widely diverse expectations and needs (Kohli et al, 2017). Each of these issues is affected by pervasive poverty and marginalisation of the target population (Peters et al, 2008;Sharma et al, 2009;Jacobs et al, 2012;Tanksale, 2015;Kohli et al, 2017).…”