by: SRIJA MUKHERJEE
KOLKATA : “Malnutrition has been more massive in female bodies from the very beginning, than in males. During the times of 1950-70 females were very poorly fed and hunger stricken.
This was mostly due to their staying of indoors and no work habits”, explained Dr. Shantanu Banerjee sharing his thoughts on the current percentage of malnutrition in the country and how can one mend the stooping curve.
Dr. Banerjee has been the Ex-President of Association Of Otolaryngologist Of India. Fellow Of Indian Academy Of Otolaryngologist Of India, Ex- International advisor Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery USA and President Of Science Association Of Bengal.
Banerjee is also a serving member of the Scientific Advisory Board UCB, Academy Of Allergy in Brussels and has recently been chairing the responsibility of a senior advisor in Vaidyaa Services And Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in Kolkata.
The healthcare company serves a unique service of specialized and super specialized doctors at one’s door step at a domestic level. At an international level Vaidyaa is involved in Global Medical Tourism and has already penetrated countries like Singapore, Zimbave, Bangladesh, Afghan etc. and have more worldwide countries in the list. One could log on to www.vaidyaa.com , https://www.facebook.com/usetochoose/, https://www.facebook.com/vaidya4home/ for more detailed and required information.
Malnutrition the term refers to a situation where there is an unbalanced diet in which some nutrients are in excess, lacking or in wrong proportion. The World Bank estimates that India is one of the highest ranking countries in the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition. Simply put, we can categorise it to be under-nutrition and over-nutrition.
Banerjee maintains, that a total of 16 – 20 calories per day (1600-2000) for any individual is a stable and good enough count to combat malnutrition. Regular exercise, systematic sunlight exposure, having Vitamin D on the body and Vitamin supplements on regular intervals is a saviour from one being a malnutritioned.
In 2016, 22.9 per cent, or just under one in four children under age 5 worldwide had stunted growth. That said, overall trends are positive.Between 2000 and 2016, stunting prevalence globally declined from 32.7 per cent to 22.9 per cent, and the number of children affected fell from 198 million to 155 million. In 2016, about two out of every four stunted children lived in South Asia and one in three in sub-Saharan Africa.
In May 2017, UNICEF, WHO and World Bank Group released the 2017 edition of the joint child malnutrition estimates for the 1990–2016 period, representing the most recent global and regional figures.
Despite India’s 50% increase in GDP since 1991,more than one third of the world’s malnourished children live in the country and continue living in the same state. The 2017 Global Hunger Index (GHI) Report ranked India 97th out of 118 countries with a serious hunger situation.
Nearly half of all deaths in children under 5 are attributable to undernutrition. This translates into the unnecessary loss of about 3 million young lives a year. Poor nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life can also lead to stunted growth, which is irreversible and associated with impaired cognitive ability and reduced school and work performance.
Dr. Banerjee quotes, “Awareness is always a big key to irradiate Malnutrition. The emergence of new age healthcare companies who are going all out to bring awareness are undoubtedly important in societies now. I have always come across that women are not as aware as males regarding teeth, gum, digestion, eye etc. All these form a huge part of health and need equal nutrition”.
He further adds that, the importance of the emergence of modern day healthcare companies that are at a full bloom in the country right now, making quality healthcare accessible and an absolute reality . “I have been greatly moved by the concept of Vaidyaa. At the start of their journey, I could merely guide the team regarding a thread of promising doctors they can approach. It has been 27 months they have a databank of 179 super specialized doctors , more than 10 highly experienced team advisors who are practicing doctors themselves”.
He continues to state, needless to say the man power has also increased and the company is expanding in many folds each day.
These estimates of facts are presented by various regional and income group country classifications used by various agencies including the United Nations, UNICEF, WHO and The World Bank Group
This brochure was prepared by: The Data and Analytics Section of the Division of Data, Research and Policy, UNICEF New York together with the Department of Nutrition for Health and Development, WHO Geneva and the Development Data Group of the World Bank, Washington DC. May 2017.
Srija Mukherjee is Kolkata based contributor of Kashmir Patriot. She can be reached at : srijamukherjee89@gmail.com
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