Nutrition/Malnutrition: American Society vs. India

As a Center Director/ Family Worker at the Head Start program I work for, Nutrition/Malnutrition is a common topic I work with my families on. For the families I work with the most common difficulty is buying healthy meals while on a budget. The more healthy foods out there are typically a lot more expensive than the frozen or canned items one might find at the store. We have had guest speakers come in and attend our parent groups to speak about ways to eat healthy while on a budget. I have found these programs to be very effective. I was interested in learning this week to see if this is a common trend or something that is seen more within American Society.

As I furthered my research I discovered some interesting insights about India from the book, Wasting Away: The Crisis of Malnutrition in India (Measham & Chatterjee, 1999). In India more than half of the children under four years old are moderately or severely malnourished (Measham & Chatterjee, 1999). About 30 percent of newborns are significantly underweight and 60 percent of women are anemic (Measham & Chatterjee, 1999). These numbers were taken right after India claimed their independence in 1947 (Measham & Chatterjee, 1999). Since then India has set new goals and programs to decrease the amount of malnutrition in India. Some of these programs are “Integrated child Development Services Program”, “National Mid-Day Meal Programs”, and a “Health Sector” (Measham & Chatterjee, 1999).  

As I read about the details of these programs they reminded me of some of the programs we offer in the United States such as WIC, Planned Parenthood, Public Health, and Head Start. There was many more details about the programs that India offers and there were more detailed statistics about how India has progressed since 1947 in the area of malnutrition. I was surprised by the statement that the programs provided did not make drastic changes in the numbers for those who suffer from malnutrition (Measham & Chatterjee, 1999).

As a Family Worker/ Center Director I have always valued the helpful programs we have to offer for families. Part of my job is to make sure the families are receiving as many services as they need and qualify for to sustain their quality of life or support them during a critical time of need. After learning about the impact of the services India offered and the changes it made for their society, I am more aware of the importance of measuring the true outcomes of the services we provide in America. I will continue offering these services to my families, because I believe they are helpful, but I would be interested to know the effectiveness of each individual program, which is research I may conduct in the future.

References

Measham, A. R., & Chatterjee, M. (1999). Wasting Away: The Crisis of Malnutrition in India. Washington, D.C.: The International Bank for Reconstruction.