Malnutrition Crisis Claims Another Young Life: 4-Month-Old Dies Despite Government Programs in Madhya Pradesh

The mother, Asma Bano, urgently transported her infant to the district hospital last Saturday.

Despite government assertions about effective nutrition programs and numerous initiatives designed to protect infants, four-month-old Hussain Raza from Marwa village in Madhya Pradesh's Satna has become the latest victim of an ongoing malnutrition crisis. The severely undernourished infant passed away late Tuesday night at the district hospital after fighting for his life in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for four days.

His emaciated body, with skin stretched tightly over bones, hollow eyes, and colorless lips, revealed a story of neglect that statistics cannot diminish. Medical professionals indicated that Hussain weighed merely two and a half kilograms, while a healthy infant his age should weigh at least five kilograms. He was so severely weakened that he lacked even the strength to cry.

Asma Bano, the child's mother, rushed him to the district hospital last Saturday.

When pediatrician Sandeep Dwivedi initially examined him in the outpatient department, even he was disturbed by the infant's condition. The baby was promptly assessed, diagnosed with "severe malnutrition," and transferred to the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre before being moved to the PICU. For four consecutive days, doctors attempted to stabilize his condition, but he showed no improvement. Hospital records indicate that although Hussain weighed three kilograms at birth on July 2, a subsequent bout of pneumonia drastically weakened him.

His weight decreased rather than increased, and alarmingly, he had not received any vaccinations, leaving an already vulnerable body even more susceptible to illness.

Following his death, the Health Department issued notices to three staff members: Medical Officer S P Srivastava, health worker Lakshmi Rawat, and ASHA worker Urmila Satnami for failing to identify and monitor a case of severe malnutrition.

Officials stated that negligence in tracking high-risk infants "will not be tolerated," but these actions come too late for Hussain. His death has once again exposed deficiencies in village-level monitoring, anganwadi tracking, and field-level health response, raising serious questions about the effectiveness and commitment of the state's nutrition system.

What makes this tragedy even more concerning is that Hussain's case is not isolated. In August, a 15-month-old girl named Divyanshi died in Shivpuri, weighing just 3.7 kilograms. Prior to that, one-and-a-half-year-old Radhika from Sheopur died weighing only 2.5 kilograms, despite children her age typically weighing between 10 and 11.5 kilograms. A similar incident was reported in July from Bhind, where the family attributed their child's death to malnutrition. Each case follows the same pattern, and each time, the responsibility is placed on "system failure."

Government data presented in the Assembly highlighted the magnitude of the crisis. Between 2020 and June 2025, 85,330 children were admitted to Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres in tribal development blocks, with annual admissions increasing dramatically from 11,566 in 2020-21 to 20,741 in 2024-25. More than one million children in Madhya Pradesh are categorized as malnourished, while 1.36 lakh fall into the "severe wasting" category. In April 2025, the national average for severe and moderate malnutrition among children under five was 5.40 percent. In Madhya Pradesh, it was significantly higher at 7.79 percent. Even more disturbing, 45 out of 55 districts in the state were classified in the "red zone" according to central government data from May, where over 20 percent of children are severely underweight for their age.

On paper, the state allocates Rs 980 per child at NRCs, while anganwadis receive Rs 8 per day per child, and Rs 12 per day for severely malnourished children. In reality, however, children continue to fall through the gaps in the system.

Hussain Raza's death, like many before him, highlights a painful reality that despite schemes, budgets, committees, and campaigns, malnutrition in Madhya Pradesh remains a human tragedy unfolding gradually before our eyes.