Flood-exposure is associated with higher prevalence of child undernutrition in rural eastern India

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 13, Issue 2, 2016, doi:10.3390/ijerph13020210:

This article investigates to what extent floods exacerbate poor nutritional status in children and identify most vulnerable groups. The authors conducted a population-based survey of children aged 6–59 months inhabiting flooded and non-flooded communities of the Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha (India), one year after large floods in 2008. Anthropometric measurements on 879 children and child, parental and household level variables were collected through face-to-face interviews in September 2009.

The authors find that in these Indian communities, flood‐related undernutition persisted well beyond the typical period of emergency relief. In our specific setting, wasting was more prominent than underweight or stunting to indicate the nutritional stresses experienced by the affected child populations. In addition, we found that not only is the burden of undernutrition greater among the flood‐affected children and particularly among infants, but the severity of this condition is significantly higher in repeatedly flooded children.

They note that global climate changes are set to increase flooding both in frequency and severity which will further aggravate this situation, particularly in low‐resource settings or rural populations where susbsistence farming is very common, and recommend a number of preventive and risk-reducing actions.