Call for abstracts

IDS Bulletin - The Persistence of Undernutrition in India

The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) with support from the Department of International Development in India invites abstracts of papers for an issue of the IDS Bulletin on the Persistence of Undernutrition in India. The Bulletin will contain papers written primarily from authors in India and the South Asia region.

In 2005-06, infant undernutrition rates in India were double those of Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries.   Indian undernutrition rates are seven times higher than China’s.  Moreover the rate of progress in reducing undernutrition is painfully slow.  Between 1999 and 2006 the rate of underweight for children between the ages of 1 and 2 fell from 47.0% to 44.8%.  At this rate, it would take 50 years for India’s rate to approach Malawi’s, let alone China’s.

Maternal and child undernutrition is the underlying cause of up to one third of all child deaths under the age of 5 years and a key factor in lower rates of learning and productivity which undermine the achievement of human potential and the attainment of the MDGs relating to chronic poverty, child health, maternal mortality and education. A consensus is slowly emerging that child undernutrition is not simply a technical conundrum to be solved, but is essentially a governance failure – at international, national and subnational levels: lack of recognition of those most affected, weak institutional arrangements and poor political organisation all contribute to nutrition being so low on the development agenda and prevent the scaling of successful interventions.

India contains the bulk of global infant undernutrition. Malnutrition in India is particularly concentrated in certain social groups and locations. Against a backdrop of strong economic growth, rates are high, and persistently so. Why? And how to counter this?

We particularly invite authors from Indian civil society, the private sector, the Indian research community, and the Government of India to submit abstracts on the following topics:

• The reasons for the persistence of the undernutrition problem in India. Why isn’t economic growth significantly affecting undernutrition rates? 
• Interventions that have worked in India: which and why?  Interventions that have not worked: which and why?  What, if anything, can be done to make these interventions more cost-effective?
• Domestic barriers to further action and how to overcome them:

Representational/Voice – are the malnourished ineffectively represented in local and national debates? If so, how to change this? How can political and social mobilisation around these issues become more effective in promoting change? How to raise public awareness and make nutrition a priority for politicians seeking election?
Institutional/Organisational – are there institutional and organisational barriers and transactions costs to actions which are better coordinated and owned?
Intercountry and interegion comparisons – what can be learned from these comparisons and which are transferable across region/country?

• What are the corresponding barriers (e.g. voice, organisational, coordination) to effective international action and how to (and who should) overcome them? 
• Analysis and identification of the key policies that create or undermine the facilitating environment for good household nutrition.

We invite submissions of substantial abstracts (400-600 words) for potential publication in the Bulletin to be submitted to s.forsyth@ids.ac.uk by 19th October 2008 at the latest.

The abstracts will be reviewed by early November 2008 and we will invite a number of authors to submit complete papers. Authors of accepted papers will receive a modest honorarium.  The deadline for submission of complete papers will be 1 February 2008. The Bulletin is due for publication in July 2009 and a launch event in India is planned around that time.

Lawrence Haddad, IDS.  September 8, 2008