Quietly They Die: A Study of Malnourishment Related Deaths in Mumbai City

The attention of the media and planners has been focussed almost exclusively on rural and tribal malnutrition. However, malnutrition among urban children, particularly the economically vulnerable slum population has been almost entirely neglected, with the exception of a very few studies. A sample of 1000 households in eight kaccha settlements in Mumbai has been chosen for the study. Five of these settlements are in the Eastern suburbs whereas the other five are in the Western suburbs. This sample was taken in November -December 2002. In the study incidence of malnourishment among children under the age of five has been captured.