More than 83,000 children below the age of 5 are severely underweight in Karnataka, according to a survey conducted by Women and Child Welfare Department recently.
According to the copy of the survey, available with the Express, 48,41,896 children below 5 years were weighed in 30 districts. Of these, 83,375 (1.72 per cent) were found to be severely underweight, 13,43,163 (27.77 per cent) were moderately under weight and 34,15,358 children (70.54 per cent) were found to be normal.
The survey also found that the 50 per cent of the children in Koppal district were underweight — the highest in state. In the district, 1,12,952 children were surveyed - of these 5,075 (4.49 per cent) were found to be severely underweight, 47,362 (42.17 per cent) moderately underweight.
In Koppal district, the highest number of underweight children is in Gangavati taluk, the rice bowl of Karnataka. In the taluk, 1,950 children were found to be severely underweight children (5.6 per cent). The cause for a large number of malnourishment cases in the district may be attributed to backwardness and poverty.
Gadag, which is considered as a forward district, has 3,856 children, who are severely underweight (4.15 per cent) and 34,891 who are moderately underweight (37.57 per cent). The department had weighed 92,864 kids in the taluk. The survey was undertaken with the help of Anganawadi workers, helpers and health workers in both rural and urban areas.
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