Status and Challenges of Child Malnutrition in West Bengal with Special Reference to Area under Kolkata Municipal Corporation

Malnutrition is a grave threat to maternal and child health across the world with its most of the victims observed in the developing nations. It is the condition that results from consuming a diet in which certain nutrients are lacking. A miserable picture of malnutrition and under-nutrition is prevalent among mothers and children in rural areas on one hand and slums and shanties of the urban areas on the other in India as well as in the state of West Bengal. Kwashiorkor, Marasmus, Rickets are the common diseases seen among children due to malnutrition. A number of nutritional deficiency syndromes tend to affect the overall physical and mental development making the child susceptible to various childhood diseases. Children living in the unhygienic slum areas cursed with malnutrition are vulnerable to pediatric tuberculosis as well. Early marriage coupled with early pregnancy, improper feeding habits, inadequate diet and negligence culminates into signs and symptoms of malnutrition among pregnant women, the result of which is reflected after birth of the infant who is also vulnerable to inherit symptoms of malnutrition, under-nutrition and anaemia.