Sundarbans: Where children crawl even after growing up

Unlike other children of his age, four-year-old Nirmal Mandal is still learning how to walk on his legs. He still crawls like a baby.
When brought to the nearest primary health centre by his farmer parents in Pathar Pratima block of Sundarbans, doctors said the child is chronically malnourished and his legs are too weak to be able to take the weight of his body.
Repeated climatic shocks in the form of cyclones and floods, geographical adversities, especially in the remote islands, and an inadequate health infrastructure have made many such children in the Sundarbans malnourished.
Prof Barun Kanjilal of The Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR), who has been studying the region, told PTI that more than one-third of the children here are chronically malnourished due to under-nutrition.

"A child from a poor household born without adequate antenatal care and inappropriately fed during the first few months of his or her life makes a perfect recipe for under-nutrition and associated morbidity, a common phenomenon in the Sundarbans," he said.
According to Sundarbans Health Watch report, about sixty per cent of the children did not receive breast milk immediately after birth. Breastfeeding is a critical determinant of a child's health.
"Health awareness is very poor. One third of the mothers are also underweight and this has a direct impact on the health of the children," Dr Kanjilal said.
A study conducted by the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) and international NGO Save the Children has found that the overall prevalence of anaemia in women is as high as 64 per cent.