Malnutrition death strikes Mumbai slum children

In a stark revelation of poverty in India’s commercial capital, at least 16 children under six years have died from malnutrition in recent months in a single locality, a charitable organisation claimed.

Apanalaya, an ngo dedicated to the welfare of slum dwellers, claimed that malnutrition related illnesses had taken the lives of sixteen children at Shivaji Nagar in Govandi, northeast Mumbai from April, this year.

Apanalaya’s assistant director Dnyaneshwar Tarwade was quoted as saying that Sahil Salim, a 15-month-old boy from Shivaji Nagar, who battled high fever and cold for several weeks, died on Friday.

His death came a week after another child from the same slum, two-and-a-half-year-old Khatija Afzal, had died following a similar illness.

Salim was underweight, about seven kilos, was suffering from malnutrition related diseases.

According to the state government’s data, 3.5 per cent of Greater Mumbai’s slum children under six die every year because of poor nutrition and increased risk of infections – a figure largely accepted by academics and social workers.

The city has about 7.3 lakh slum children below the age of four, according to the government National Family Health Survey.

Going by the figures, at least 25,550 — 3.5 per cent of 7.3 lakh children die of malnutrition and related illnesses every year, a published report said on Monday.