Anaemia and malnutrition, passed quietly from mother to child.
Both conditions are often invisible. They begin before a child is born and can carry across generations. The cycle can be broken, but only if it is understood clearly first.
The invisible crisis
Lakshmi is in the 7th standard. She is 135 cm tall and weighs just 23 kilograms. At her age, a healthy girl would typically be around 150 cm tall and weigh about 35 to 40 kilograms. She looks much younger than her classmates, falls sick often, and struggles with the effects of long-term undernutrition.
This is not simply a child who is small. This is chronic malnutrition hiding in plain sight.
The hidden burden of anaemia
Meet Janaki. She is constantly tired, weak and breathless, yet she continues to care for her family every day. Janaki is one of millions of women living with anaemia. During pregnancy, this silent condition can affect both her health and her baby's future.
How it repeats, generation after generation.
Malnutrition begins long before a child is born. An anaemic, undernourished mother is more likely to give birth to an undernourished baby, continuing a cycle that can run for generations.
Why it matters
A child affected by malnutrition may face lasting consequences long after childhood:
- Impaired brain development before birth
- Difficulty learning and reaching their full potential at school
- Frequent illness due to poor immunity
- Reduced ability to work and earn as adults
- A lifetime of lost opportunities
Better nutrition at birth shapes a child's lifelong potential, and a nation's.
From our own field assessment
- 87% of the children we assessed were malnourished, which is more than twice the national average.
- Nearly 80% of the pregnant women we met were anaemic and undernourished.
- Teen pregnancies and closely spaced pregnancies remain common.
- Poor maternal nutrition continues to pass malnutrition from one generation to the next.