Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh:
Five children have died in Khandwa and one in Jhabua in the last 3 days in Madhya Pradesh due to malnutrition. With the monsoons delayed and no food at home, thousands of children in southern MP are at risk. What makes it worse is HIV - which migrant workers are bringing back home.
Ramla's wife died of TB three weeks ago on her way to the hospital. Severely malnourished, she caught HIV at a Baroda hospital.
And now her 3-year-old daughter Basanta, also HIV positive, is seriously ill. There's no food, no money for her treatment. Basanta's weight has dropped even more after her mother died.
Jhabua is not just battling a malnutrition epidemic but also HIV, but most cases go unreported. Last month, at just one clinic, out of 60 patients tested, 15 were positive. Most of them migrant labourers and their families. health workers are alarmed.
There is no work in Jhabua. Every village empties out around the monsoons after planting - people go to neighbouring Gujarat for casual work. It is an annual ritual. They return with money that bails them out for the rest of the year. But along with money, they also bring back HIV. Every village now has families with HIV. And malnutrition is only aggravating the disease, killing scores of people, especially children of AIDS.
In the last 3 days, 6 children have died, one barely six-months-old. The numbers are likely to go up as village after village struggles for food.
Children, who are HIV positive, are especially vulnerable since lack of proper diet affects immunity even more. So far, no Anganwadi worker or health care provider has visited these villages. None of the children has ever been vaccinated.
But for these Bhil families, government indifference is a way of life.