The nutritional status of children in the age group of under-3 years is better in West Bengal, as compared to the all-India average of weight for age (undernutrition) as well as height for age (stunting). By these criteria, WB also has a lower percentage of severely malnourished children (16.3 per cent) as compared to the Indian average of 18 per cent...

The overall anaemia status of children in WB is very poor as the state ranks as low as nineteenth among 25 states. The proportion of children with anaemia (78 per cent) is higher compared to the Indian average of 74 per cent. However, the proportion of children with severe anaemia is marginally lower, at 5.2 per cent compared to the national average of 5.4 per cent. Not surprisingly, the situation is worse in the rural areas, where as many as 82 per cent of children are estimated to have anaemia by the National Family Health Survey, 1998-99, compared to a rate of 64 per cent in urban WB and 60 per cent in Calcutta. Severe anaemia is also higher in rural WB, at 5.3 per cent compared to 4.6 per cent in the urban areas and 0.7 per cent in Calcutta.

Such nutritional deficiencies among children have important negative effects in terms of the health and capability patterns so it is important to make this a focus of public intervention.

The nutritional status of women in WB is a source of some concern, since it seems to be significantly worse than the national average. In a survey conducted by the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau, WB ranked eighth among 9 states. In terms of the body mass index, the state ranks as low as twenty fourth among 25 states...Clearly, there is scope here for immediate target oriented intervention strategies to be planned...

Compared with the national average of 52 per cent, 63 per cent of...married women in WB were characterized as having iron-deficiency anaemia. However, the proportion of such women with severe anaemia, at 1.5 per cent, is marginally lower than the national average of 1.9 per cent. It is also substantially lower than in other richer states such as Tamil Nadu (3.9 per cent) and Maharashtra (2.9 per cent) whose overall proportion of women with anaemia is lower. This suggests lower but more equitable distribution of nutritional intake among women in WB...

Once again, rural women tend to be worse off in terms of anaemia... However, the incidence of severe anaemia shows the opposite pattern, being the lowest in the rural areas at 1.4 per cent, compared to 1.8 per cent in all urban areas and 2 per cent in Calcutta suggesting that there are proportionately more cases of extreme nutritional deficiency in the metropolis which should be addressed through systematic policy intervention.

Interestingly, anaemia among men in WB is also significantly high; in fact, severe anaemia was higher among men above 60 years (7.2 per cent) than among females of that age group (4.3 per cent). The highest rates of anaemia tend to be found among women in the age groups 12-19 years and 19-45 years, which are also the age groups for which the gender gap is greatest. While anaemia among children is not different across gender, girls tend to become more anaemic after puberty. Obviously, anaemia is a critical problem for the state and suitable steps need to be taken at all levels to combat it.

However, in terms of other nutritional supplements, WB is not so badly off. Thus, the iodized salt programme in the state shows a better coverage compared to the all-India level.