The HUNGaMA (Hunger and Malnutrition) Survey Report- 2011

• The HUNGaMA (Hunger and Malnutrition) Survey conducted across 112 rural districts of India in 2011 provides reliable estimates of child nutrition covering nearly 20% of Indian children.
•  Of the 112 districts surveyed, 100 were selected from the bottom of a child development district index developed for UNICEF India in 2009, referred to as the 100 Focus Districts in this report.  These 100 districts are located in 6 states.
• The HUNGaMA Survey shows that positive change for child nutrition in India is happening, including in the 100 Focus Districts. However rates of child malnutrition are still unacceptably high particularly in these Focus Districts where over 40 per cent of children are underweight and almost 60 per cent are stunted, meaning their height is much lower than the median height-for-age of the reference population.
• The 100 Focus Districts are located across Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh – states which perform the worst on child nutrition.
• The survey notes that the prevalence of malnutrition is significantly higher among children from low-income families. It found that children from Muslim or SC/ST households generally had worse nutrition indicators.
• Birth weight is an important risk-factor for child malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight in children born with a weight below 2.5 kg is 50 per cent, while that among children born with a weight above 2.5 kg is 34 per cent.
• The survey further found that awareness among mothers about nutrition is low — "92 per cent mothers had never heard the word malnutrition."
• Highlighting the negligence shown towards girl children even in their early childhood, the report says the nutrition advantage girls have over boys in the first months of life seems to be reversed over time as they grow older.
• The last such data released in 2004 — from a district level health survey — had measured malnutrition only in terms of weight, and had concluded that 53 per cent children in these districts were underweight.
• Among the worst districts as per the new data are Malkangiri in Orissa with 57.75 per cent and Aurangabad in Bihar with 49.47 per cent children underweight. Shrawasti in Uttar Pradesh with 72.31 per cent, Rae Bareli with 70.40 per cent, Koraput in Orissa with 68.86 per cent and Dumka in Jharkhand with 63.65 per cent have the highest number of stunted children.