Malnourishment Grips Children In Sheopur District Of MP, Number Of Deaths Increasing Every Month

Malnourishment among tribal children is becoming an acute problem in Madhya Pradesh. Yet another malnourished child died in Gopalpur village of Vijaypur.

According to the district administration, Kamini, the daughter of a saharia tribal Dharmendra, died four days back, but the report reached the district headquarter on Monday.

Among all the districts, Sheopur is the worse affected. On September 8, more than 40 malnourished children were admitted to the nutrition rehabilitation centre (NRC) of district hospital and on the next day, the death of a severely malnourished child was reported.

Today, at least 180 malnourished children are admitted to the 20-bed NRC at district hospital of Sheopur.

Recently, health minister visited Saharia tribe dominated villages of Sheopur and said that 8 to 10 malnourished children died in the district during the period between April and August this year.

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 55% children in Sheopur are malnourished. It is one of the worst affected districts of the state along with Badwani. Madhya Pradesh stands second when it comes to malnourishment in the entire nation with Bihar topping the list. There are 42.8 % underweight children in the state as compared to 43.9 % in Bihar.

An inquiry has been ordered by the district collector Ramesh Bhandari.