ACCORDING to recent statistics, at least 37 percent of children under five in Bangladesh are stunted due to malnutrition and a local English daily reported that children residing in slums are the biggest sufferers as they have the highest rate of malnutrition amongst all the children of the country. Though the government has taken steps to decrease the malnutrition situation, they seem almost insignificant in comparison to the millions of affected children.
The Bangladesh Urban Health Survey 2013 report mentions that fifty percent of children from slums below five years are stunted, whereas the percentage stands at 33 in non-slum areas. The rates were 57 and 37 respectively in a similar survey conducted in 2006. Similarly, 43 percent of the urban children are underweight while in non-slum areas the rate is 26 percent and in sub-urban areas it is 30 percent. According to an earlier study, rate of stunting of the Under-five children across the country was 40 percent. The report was compiled considering urban areas (divided into three categories — slums, non-slums and other semi-urban areas) and considered issues of population and households, migration, availability of health services, fertility, family planning, maternal and child health and nutrition, health service utilisation and outcomes.
An icddr,b scientist was quoted saying that ‘Bangladesh aims to reduce prevalence of stunting among young children to 38 percent by 2016’, but this target has not been achieved at all in slums compared to other areas. Lack of proper hygiene and sanitation and its consequent diseases are considered reasons behind high rates of stunting and child mortality in slums, adding to the already prevalent malnutrition issues.
Tackling malnutrition in a third world country like Bangladesh is very important and the government’s initiatives of merely transferring food or cash under the Social Safety Net Programmes (SSNPs) are not effective in decreasing malnutrition in the destitute. Even though the population of Bangladesh is ever increasing, the productivity of its citizens is not encouraging as millions of children are stunted due to malnutrition and they are physically and psychologically incapable of contributing to the economy when they grow up. The current situation shows that due to the number of unfit children (and adults who suffered from malnutrition as children) are dependents rather than earners in society which puts a huge burden on the tax-payers and earners and hampers chances of potential productivity. Though some initiatives by the government seem promising, they are not even nearly enough to sustain the need for urgent eradication of malnutrition and thus the government needs to put more effective methods at play to keep its citizens healthy for a better Bangladesh. The country needs a healthy productive workforce to prosper and offer a better life for its citizens.
