Severely malnourished children in India
Deep Kumar, 20 months old, left, and 18-month-old Vishal are fed eggs by caretaker Nirmala Devi at the UNICEF-sponsored nutrition rehabilitation center in Saraiya in the impoverished eastern Indian state of Bihar. (Anita Khemka / For The Times)
Bachiya Devi with son Deep Kumar at the nutrition rehabilitation center in Saraiya. Deep weighs barely half as much as a child his age should. There are four or five days a month when the pot doesnt boil and we go hungry, Devi says. At home, Deep, her youngest child and only son, eats one piece of flatbread a day, plus some rice and occasionally vegetables. (Anita Khemka / For The Times)
Vikas Kumar, 3, is undernourished in addition to being deaf and blind. An estimated 40% of all the worlds severely malnourished children under age 5 live in India. Spiraling food prices and ineffectual government there threaten to push that figure even higher. (Anita Khemka / For The Times)
Muskan, right, who is 18 months old, is given “feed” by Raju Devi. The feed is usually a mixture of wheat, rice puffs, other grain and milk, and is a part of the dietary plan at the nutrition rehabilitation center. Many officials were shocked when a 2005-06 government study revealed hardly any progress in reducing child malnutrition over the last decade and a half exactly when the Indian economy was exploding and attracting international attention. (Anita Khemka / For The Times)
