New Delhi, Dec 16: The United Nations International Children's Fund ((Unicef) has asked the Indian government to allocate 20 per cent of the budget to social sector to counter poverty and malnutrition. The economic reforms also came in for sharp criticism as ``these policies have serious repercussions''.

The Unicef has said that investment in health, education, poverty alleviation and similar other programmes in the social sector was creating havoc. It was draining the economy indirectly as it tended to reduce productivity as well as add to unnecessary hidden expenditures. India and Bangladesh, according to World Bank, needs $ 18 bilion, only 5 per cent of the GNP to counter issues like malnutrition, that severely afflicted the region.

Unicef expressed serious concern on malnutrition, which contributes to over six million child deaths every year, a high proportion of which occur in South Asia, particularly in India and Bangladesh. India accounted for 40 per cent of the total malnoursihed children in South Asia. The Unicef has devoted its 1998 State of the World's Children report released in New Dedlhi on Tuesday to this issue bogging the large parts of the globe.

Releasing the report, Unicef's special representative to India, Kul C Gautam and V Ramalingaswamy, the renowned child nutritionist, said that SAARC should focus more on social sector than on trade related issues. This was a common problem in South Asia and the seven nations would find more in common in these areas to improve ties among them as well.

Economic poverty was cited as the major factor causing malnutrition. In 1990, the worldwide loss of social productivity caused by four inter-linked types of malnutrition - nutritional stunting and wasting, iodine deficiency disorders and deficiencies of iron and vitamin A was estimated at 46 million years of productive, disability-free life. The report cited the World Bank study which estimated that the cost of vitamin and mineral deficiencies in Bangladesh and India was $ 18 billion in 1995 alone.

Highlighting malnutrition as a persisting silent emergency threatening children, the report says it is unmatched by any infectious disease, war or natural disaster. Though chiefly the consequence of disease and inadequate dietary intake, many more elements contribute to it including discrimination against women which results in them eating last and least and in being denied the educational opportunities that would empower them to better care for themselves and for their children.

The two regions where malnutrition rates were the highest were South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. There are 226 million stunted children worldwide, the report points out. Some 67 million children are estimated to be wasted (significantly below the weight they should be for their height) as a result of reduced dietary intake, illness or both.

According to the report, good nutrition could also be an element in the fight against some of the world's greatest health challenges including maternal mortality, malaria and even AIDS. There was growing evidence that better nutrition in early childhood and during pregnancy could reduce the burden of heart disease and other chronic and degenerative ailments later in life, it adds. This should be considered an investment as the measures increased productivity.

A disquieting feature of the report is that while the proportion of malnourished children is falling globally, the absolute number of malnourished children is increasing in South Asia. Almost 80 per cent cent of children in this region, particularly in Pakistan , India, Nepal and Bangladesh, are underweight between their first and second birthdays. Ramalingaswamy observed that India's record with regard to children's nutrition was the worst in the world.

The real challenge of malnutrition was to tackle pre-conceptual malnutrition and reach women before they had children and adolescent girls, he added. The report points out that discrimination against women and girls is an important basic cause of malnutrition. The very high rates of child malnutrition and low birth weight throughout much of South Asia are linked to such factors as women's poor access to education and their low levels of participation in paid employment.

In Bangladesh, India and Nepal girls and women spend three to five hours more a week than boys and men in carrying fuel and growing and processing food. They spend an additional 20 to 30 hours a week performing other unpaid household chores, it says.

Fetching water is also usually the responsibility of women and children in rural communities. A woman could conserve 300-600 calories a day of energy reserves if the distance to the water source was shortened, it adds.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.