The vulnerable years

Nearly half the children under age three are underweight.

‘‘Giving all children a good start in life is the best way to ensure that they realise their full potential for growth and development. Survival is not enough,’’ Maria Calivis, UNICEF representative of UNICEF in India remarked at the release function of The State of the World’s Children 2001 last week. ‘‘To break the cycle of poverty, violence and disease, interventions must come within the first three years of life,’’ she added.

This year’s UNICEF report asks nations to invest in children under three. And focusing on early childhood care, it recommends that constant support be provided to young children from the family, the community and the decision makers.

‘‘Ensuring children a good start in life is the one investment opportunity with almost guaranteed returns the full realisation of a child’s rights to develop his or her full potential: physical, emotional, cognitive and social,’’ it says.

In India, according to UNICEF, more than 27 million children are born every year and young children falling in the age-group of 0-6 years account for 17.5 per cent of the country’s population.

And despite a steady decline in birth rates and increased child survival rates, around 3 million children under five years of age still die every year.

Of those who survive, not all realise their full development potential or active learning capacity. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), according to the Sample Registration System (SRS) of the Registrar General of India, has been halved from 146 in 1960 to 70 in 1999.

A number which may look encouraging in comparison, but in reality, remains alarmingly high.

‘‘Early care is a child’s right and promotes survival, development, protection and participation in a child,’’ said Dr Patrice Engle of the Child Development and Nutrition Section, UNICEF, India.

She argues that this period is most important as the brain growth is very rapid and good nutrition and rich experiences affect its development.

Forty per cent of the adult mental ability is formed in the first three years of life, she pointed out.

Poor care remains the primary factor. National Family Health Survey states that only 55 per cent infants under three months are exclusively breastfed and just 33.5 per cent between the age group of six to nine months receive complementary foods in addition to breast milk. ‘‘In India, boys are better cared than the girls.

Twenty one per cent women experience violence in home and 56 per cent women think that there is at least one reason that they should be beaten.’’ Engle said.

To support her statement are the alarming figures as given out by the Sample Registration System which claim that the maternal mortality rate is as high as 407 per 100,000 live births. Which means that as many as 100,000 women die every year.

The rate of negligence during and immediately after pregnancy is equally alarming.

As National Family Health Service figures point out, 34 per cent of pregnant women who do not receive ante-natal care.

And though several pieces of legislation have been brought about by the government in the past four decades and welfare programmes initiated in the field of women and child welfare in association with various bodies, local agencies, schools and religious and health and service organisations need to be roped in to increase awareness.

As the UNICEF puts it, ‘‘Families bear the primary responsibility for meeting their child’s physical, emotional, and intellectual needs and for providing moral guidance and direction. Families must be supported in their child rearing roles, to enable them to fulfil their obligation, and to hold them responsible for the care and support of their children.’’