Child malnutrition is a major public health problem in India
Babies in a rural area of India are less likely to suffer from acute malnutrition where their families are taking part in a job-guarantee programme to provide work with a guaranteed wage, an Oxford University study has found. However, the Indian government programme appears to have no effect on long-term malnutrition. While wages earned through the scheme helped families avoid starvation when seasonal agricultural jobs were in short supply, many mothers complained wages were paid late or not in full. This means that the intended benefits of the programme were not delivered in full, the researchers say. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a job-guarantee scheme in rural India which provides adults willing to do unskilled manual work with at least 100 days of work in every financial year, paid at the statutory minimum wage. MGNREGA is intended to target deprivation and food insecurity in rural households, and because of this, it has been suggested the policy may indirectly improve the health of babies and young children in these households. Since child malnutrition is a major public health problem in India, researchers at the University of Oxford set out to investigate whether MGNREGA could improve the nutritional status of children below the age of 12 months.
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