Poverty Myth #8

Home > Know the Issues > Poverty Myths > Poverty Myth #8

FACT: Access to Food is Only One of Many Factors Contributing to Malnutrition

In India, 47% of all children below the age of three years are malnourished. What are the factors that contribute to a high rate of malnutrition?

Is India's low income a major underlying cause of child malnutrition? Not necessarily so. Some 28 out of 37 Sub-Saharan African countries have a lower per capita income than India and yet report lower rates of malnutrition. Is child malnutrition high because a large proportion of India's population is poor? Again, this is not entirely true. Some 26 percent of India's population is considered to be poor-much lower than the proportion in many Sub-Saharan countries. Then, does it have to do with the availability of food in the country? Again, not true. The Green Revolution in India has helped build up one of the largest safety stocks-over 50 million ton-of food grains in the world.

What then accounts for such high levels of child malnutrition across India? Three factors are crucial: access to food within the household, the availability of quality healthcare, and informed practices in childcare. Few would argue over the availability of food as a major contributing factor to a child's well-being. If children do not get enough food to eat, they will become malnourished. The same is true with health care. But it is the missing element of care-of both mothers and their children-that plays a major role in contributing to widespread malnutrition in India.

Indian society has not invested adequately in promoting women's rights and freedoms. Therefore, their physical and mental health, but also their economic and educational well-being, suffers. Many pregnant mothers do not have access to adequate health care, nor do they eat a nutritious diet or obtain the rest they need. As a result, between 20-30% of all babies are born underweight-and the inter-generational transfer of malnutrition goes on.

Another major factor strongly impacting child malnutrition is the education of their caregivers, primarily mothers, older girls and women. It has been well documented that the prevalence of malnutrition among infants drops significantly when their mothers are educated. Educated women are better informed when making health care decisions that affect them and their children. It is only a society that is particularly caring of the rights of women and children that can fully eliminate child malnutrition.

Poverty Myths

Poverty Myth #1: Are illiterate parents interested in sending their children to school?

Poverty Myth #10: Child labor, not education, helps families end the cycle of poverty.

Poverty Myth #11: By increasing per capita income, poor countries can become developed by 2015.

Poverty Myth #12: Modern medicine and technology have eliminated pregnancy- and birth-related deaths around the world.

Poverty Myth #13: Poor women do not benefit from microcredit programs.

Poverty Myth #14: Basic education does not help people living in poverty.

Poverty Myth #15: Increased food availability will reduce hunger caused by famines.

Poverty Myth #16: Raising incomes is the best way to reduce poverty.

Poverty Myth #17: The Millennium Development Goals focus on eradicating poverty by the year 3000.

Poverty Myth #2: If school is free, why don’t more children in poor countries attend?

Poverty Myth #3: Children do not attend school because it is too far away.

Poverty Myth #4: Societies and countries are poor because their populations are large.

Poverty Myth #5: Reducing birth rates in developing countries will end poverty.

Poverty Myth #6: Girls drop out of school because it is too hard for them.

Poverty Myth #7: Strict population control measures are the most effective way to slow down population growth in developing countries.

Poverty Myth #9: Limited or no access to drugs is the single greatest impediment to stopping the AIDS pandemic.