prasad1
Active member
In 2007, the then governor of one of our states was so alarmed by reports of people starving to death in a particular district that he decided to go and check the reality on the ground. The scenes that greeted him were so pathos-filled that the governor fainted. He was bundled into his car and sent off in the general direction of the Raj Bhavan.
As it happened, I was at a multilateral conference themed ‘Action on the Call’ in Washington DC that week with health ministers from 25 countries analysing the past two years’ record in fighting preventable infant and maternal mortality. One of the important facts we were reminded of at the event was that poor nutrition is one of the most common reasons for high infant mortality in India. We are losing 1.4 million children under the age of five years annually, of whom 756,000 are infants, because we have failed to develop an efficient mother and child care system.
The connection between the newspaper report and my experience at that meeting made me face the truism that in the middle of the second decade of the 21st century, no government can escape the information explosion that constantly throws up inescapable facts. I see chronic hunger as a public health problem. Once I admit it as all-pervasive in India, it becomes my duty to address it as a major challenge before my government. Having been a World Health Organization adviser for many years, I cannot, after sitting on this chair, turn away from the fact that more than 27% of the world’s undernourished population lives in India.
Harsh Vardhan is Union minister of health and family welfare.
A truth India has to digest: millions still go hungry - Hindustan Times
Those people who bristle at the post because it is unpalatable please see the credential of the author.
If we recognize the problem may be we can work on a solution.
As it happened, I was at a multilateral conference themed ‘Action on the Call’ in Washington DC that week with health ministers from 25 countries analysing the past two years’ record in fighting preventable infant and maternal mortality. One of the important facts we were reminded of at the event was that poor nutrition is one of the most common reasons for high infant mortality in India. We are losing 1.4 million children under the age of five years annually, of whom 756,000 are infants, because we have failed to develop an efficient mother and child care system.
The connection between the newspaper report and my experience at that meeting made me face the truism that in the middle of the second decade of the 21st century, no government can escape the information explosion that constantly throws up inescapable facts. I see chronic hunger as a public health problem. Once I admit it as all-pervasive in India, it becomes my duty to address it as a major challenge before my government. Having been a World Health Organization adviser for many years, I cannot, after sitting on this chair, turn away from the fact that more than 27% of the world’s undernourished population lives in India.
Harsh Vardhan is Union minister of health and family welfare.
A truth India has to digest: millions still go hungry - Hindustan Times
Those people who bristle at the post because it is unpalatable please see the credential of the author.
If we recognize the problem may be we can work on a solution.
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